


Twilit Destiny

by Blaizekit



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon - Kingdom Hearts II, Canon Rewrite, Gen, On Hiatus, Switching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2007-06-03
Updated: 2013-05-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 23:04:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 73,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1024441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaizekit/pseuds/Blaizekit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 6; the day Roxas was supposed to rejoin with Sora. After focusing so much on capturing Roxas, DiZ never imagined the Organization would find another way to ruin his plan– they decide to capture Sora instead. How will things change when the Nobody and his Other switch paths? AU, Roxas-stays-his-own-person-fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Botched Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> This story begins at the start of KH2 and parallels its plot in an AU kind of way. I always hated that Roxas had to disappear so I imagined what it would be like if he got to have freedom a bit longer.
> 
> Please note!
> 
> As you can see, this fic is very old and has been on and off hiatus a lot. It's basically a cross-section of 10 years of writing. Because of that, I am not seeking crit on this fic. If I continue/finish it, it will only be for the sake of the readers who want to see it finished.
> 
> For reference: chapters 1-16 were written between '07 and '08, 17-18 were in 2011, and 19 is from 2013. Any new chapters, no matter when they come out, will still be based on an old canon that incorporates nothing past 358/2 Days (but is mostly KHII and earlier). This fic's core premise is based on the outdated assumption that Nobodies don't have hearts, and basically the universe as it is in KHII. Details not covered in the old canon are made up and not accurate to later canon.

It was the sixth day of Sora's final restoration, and Riku was checking the conditions inside of his best friend's pod one last time. He pressed a few buttons on the small white pedestal attached to the floor, and after a few moments a holographic screen flitted into view.

"Restoration at 97 percent." The computerized female voice declared.

Riku was wearing his hood down for once, and the screen cast a faintly green tint on his tanned skin as he looked over all the most recent data. Everything seemed in order, yet Riku couldn't keep himself from feeling a little on-edge. He wished that they could hurry up and get it over with before anything went wrong. With the Organization breathing down their necks, speed and caution would be their allies. Riku dismissed the screen and looked up at the pod thoughtfully, just as he had looked at it many times before. When Naminé had initiated the final restoration, the once clear glass structure had turned solid white to match the room around it.

Even though Naminé had constantly assured him that Sora was fast asleep, Riku had never dared to be in the pod room with his face uncovered before, now that his face was transformed into Ansem's- perhaps permanently. It was just too unnerving- sometimes you could look in at just the right moment and see Sora staring right back at you. He would look around the room slowly and often mouth words as if he was standing in a completely different place. Riku knew that the slightest chance that Sora could remember any of the days in the pod room meant he was better off disguising himself as one of the nameless hooded beings that probably entered his friend's dreams occasionally too. He'd learned from Castle Oblivion that even supposedly erased memories never truly go away.

"What goes on in that funny little mind of yours, Sora? I don't think I'll ever quite understand how she does it." Riku said aloud with a small smile. His deepened voice clashed as oppressively with the surroundings as his black coat did. This is always where he felt the most out of place.

Of course, Riku didn't expect or need an answer to his question. He knew that Sora's dreams were serving an important purpose,  _had_ served an important purpose…and now it was all about to be over. All that remained was to prepare the equipment and ensure that Roxas made it here safely.

This thought made Riku feel a familiar twinge of guilt as he turned to leave the pod room; a feeling he quickly pushed down. Everything from Sora's current state to Roxas' very existence was, in Riku's mind, his responsibility; the product of a few very bad choices he had made. He had to correct that mistake, and it didn't matter whose feelings got hurt along the way.

Riku almost laughed. He'd caught himself again- Nobodies didn't have feelings, right? They only pretended too, after all. They didn't even have hearts.

 _Roxas doesn't even know that he's a Nobody, so how could he pretend?_ An annoying little voice in the corner of his mind nagged. Riku mentally swatted it away. It didn't matter. Sora needed to be rejoined with his Nobody in order to fully complete the restoration. Period.

"It's almost time." He said as he entered the computer room. DiZ was standing in front of the screens and complicated machinery on the wall. "Everything seems to be ready to go."

He walked to stand beside DiZ, who was typing furiously on a keypad. The older man didn't answer, and seemed to be troubled by something. "What's wrong?"

"We are quickly running out of time." DiZ said grimly. "There are too many Nobodies breaching the system- I can't pinpoint Roxas' location!" he slammed his fist down on the terminal and turned to Riku. "This is all Naminé's doing- her repeated interference is causing too many of Roxas' own memories to resurface. She's been teetering on the verge of telling him everything, and right now would be the most perfectly disastrous time for her to do it."

Riku looked at the screen depicting Twilight Town, and was alarmed to see that the number of advanced Nobodies it detected was fluctuating rapidly from two to five to three to five again, the number never higher than that five, and seldom lower than three. Two of course were a given- Roxas and Naminé. Axel often made a third, but never had it been any more than that…

"What's going on? I didn't think they were  _all_  so keen on getting Roxas back- since he deserted them." Riku said.

There was also a greater variety of lesser Nobodies- aside from the usual Dusks and the Assassins under Axel's command, there were also a few Snipers and Dragoons scattered around. Even with the Keyblade, would Roxas be able to fight off these higher-ranking foes? In his current state, it was questionable- and yet, him remembering his skills would be just as much of a detriment to their plan. Riku cursed.

"What are we going to do?"

"We must awaken Sora as soon as possible." DiZ said. "I will try to locate Roxas. In the meantime, Naminé must be moved to where we can keep an eye on her. You go and bring her here."

Riku bristled momentarily at being ordered around like this- and at the bandaged man's attitude toward Naminé. Was her life any better now than it had been before? Whether a prisoner of her own kind or of DiZ, she was always a prisoner, it seemed.

Riku shook his head as he ascended the stairs to the mansion above. He had to remind himself once again that everything they were doing was for Sora.

 _But would Sora approve of what you are doing?_ That persistent little voice said.

Sometimes Riku wished that he could be like Pinocchio, and have a conscience that was external…one that could leave him alone for a little while.

"Naminé?" Riku called softly as he knocked on the door to the White Room.

She did not answer.

Unexpectedly, Riku's heart clenched.

"Naminé?"

No response.

Riku could swear that something was moving around in there…

"I'm coming in." he pulled up his hood, opened the door, and was halfway inside the room when he stopped. What he saw in there was enough to stun him momentarily.

All the sketches that had once adorned the colorless walls were now ripped off, fluttering in the air or laying crumpled, dirty, and even torn on the floor. The vase on the table lay on its side, a chair was tipped over, and several dresser drawers were pulled out- the white clothes that had been in them tossed everywhere.

But worse than all that was the sight of four Dusks, all seemingly bent on destroying the rest of the room. As if Riku's entrance had disturbed them, the Dusks bounded around in their crazy way, knocking things over and dancing faster in their frenzy. One visibly shuddered before launching itself at Riku. The others were quick to follow.

Mayhem was induced for a few moments as Riku fought them. The first Dusk to reach him was launched backward and it skidded across the table, knocking the vase to the floor and shattering it. The Dusk slammed into the opposite wall before it slid to the ground and faded.

Riku cried in surprise as one of them twisted its flexible arm around his ankle. He stabbed the thing in the head and it slithered away, returning to stand with the remaining three. They stood back for a moment, swaying side to side as they seemed to contemplate their next move.

Riku didn't give them a chance. He rushed forward, using Reversal to great effect, defeating them easily. It seemed like a joke to send such a feeble force against him. What was going on? When the last Dusk disintegrated into the air, Riku stood up straight and looked angrily around. Naminé was nowhere to be seen. What in all the worlds had happened here?

_DiZ isn't going to like this._

* * *

The warm, sun-stained streets of Twilight Town were the picture of peace. People strolled about in a lazy summer afternoon kind of way, window shopping in Tram Common or joining in on the talk that had already started about next year's Struggle tournament (as well as the enthusiastic play-by-play of this year's Struggle.) A young couple was picnicking on Sunset Hill, and workers were setting up booths in the Sandlot to prepare for the upcoming fair. It seemed that not a one of the townspeople could see or feel their world fraying at its edges. None of them, save for one, of course- Roxas. As was usual, he and his friends were sitting atop the station tower chatting over ice creams. Rather than joining in the conversation, however, Roxas was looking off quietly over the skyline of the town, into the distant horizon.

"I'd thought for sure there'd be something at the mansion at least." Pence complained. "What a waste of time."

"Hey, at least we got the dumb report done." Hayner said. "That's good enough for me. Now we can finally enjoy the rest of our vacation."

"The  _rest_ of our vacation?" Olette said incredulously. "What- two days? As if you were worried about it in the first place! You know, if it had been that much of a weight on your mind, we could've done it earlier, and then…"

"Yeah, whatever." Hayner yawned and flicked his popsicle stick out into space. Olette had a lecture about littering already on the tip of her tongue, but when she looked over to where Roxas sat, it faded away. He had that look on his face again- the one he got when his mind drifted off to strange and frightening things, things that none of the others could see or comprehend. Often when he did this he would stare at his hands, as if wondering why he existed at all. When she saw him like that, Olette would always do something to get his attention- anything to bring him back again.

"Roxas?"

"Huh?" Roxas blinked at her, and then looked at Hayner and Pence, who were both turned to him as well now. "Oh…sorry."

They were slowly losing him.

"You've been spaced out ever since you came back from the mansion." Hayner laughed. He was just as worried as Olette, but he never showed it. He'd felt a vague sense of foreboding from the first time Roxas told the group he'd had a funny dream. "Maybe it really is haunted and the girl in there did something to your brain. Pence's too, probably, though you wouldn't be able to tell the difference there."

"Hey!" Pence protested.

Roxas shrugged. He'd learned by now that no matter what weird things happened around Twilight Town, his friends would remain blissfully unaware of it. Roxas turned back to the glowing sunset and closed his eyes, feeling the warm breeze play with his spiky hair.

 _I hope Naminé is okay,_  he thought. He felt especially weird since the incident that had happened earlier. Out of place. Out of time, as if he had felt all along that that last trip to the mansion was supposed to be the end of him.

_"What's going to happen to me now? Just tell me that." He looked down and added bitterly, "Nothing else really matters anymore."_

" _You are-"_

_Naminé was cut off by a laugh. Startled, they looked around, but there was nothing- nothing that could be seen, anyway._

" _Well if it isn't Roxas and the witch-girl. How cute." A cloaked figure stepped out of the dark portal that had just appeared behind Naminé. "You really crack me up, kid. 'They're a bad group.'" He said mockingly, raising his voice in a poor imitation of Roxas. "I don't think you've ever sounded that naïve since the day we found you! I think Sora's rubbing off on you more than you'd like to admit, bro."_

" _Who are you?" Roxas demanded. "What do you want?"_

" _Oh, that's right, you don't remember." The hooded man said regretfully, crossing his arms. "Well, it doesn't matter. You will soon enough." He grabbed Naminé's arm, making her give out a startled cry._

" _Naminé!" Roxas started to jump after them, but found a pack of Dusks in his way._

" _Be a good boy now!" The cloaked man said with a cheerful wave as he backed into a dark portal, dragging Naminé with him._

" _No! Roxas-!" Naminé started, reaching out one pale hand toward him, but her words were cut off as the portal vanished and became black swirls that dissolved into the air._

_The Dusks closed in, and instantly the Keyblade was in Roxas' hand. He was very ready for a fight._

_Strangely, though, they did not attack. Tense, looking around at the circle he'd been enclosed in, Roxas picked a Dusk and charged at it. The Dusk fluidly jumped away, but once again, nothing attacked._

" _What's going on? Do something!" Roxas burst out in frustration- the one time he was more than eager to tear apart a few of these things…_

**Do not resist.**

" _Wh…" hearing the Dusk actually answer caught Roxas off guard enough that he hesitated; and when the floor beneath him turned into a circle of intangible darkness, all he could do was sink into it, watching up at the White Room as it quickly became nothing more than a faint pinprick in the distance._

Roxas opened his eyes again.

_This town is his creation, right?_

He looked over at Hayner, Pence, and Olette, who were in a friendly debate about something or another.

"I'm definitely going for the pie-eating contest this year." Hayner declared. "A few setbacks over the years mean nothing."

"Setbacks?" Olette snorted, "Hayner, you got sick at last year's fair and puked all over Pence!"

"Yeah…let's not have a repeat of that incident please." Pence shuddered.

"Well, what are you gonna do?" Hayner challenged Olette.

She smiled and curled a lock of hair around her finger. "Well, there's always the magic show."

Pence rolled his eyes. "Oh, you mean Maestro the Great, right?"

"You mean that dude with the lisp she has a crush on?" Hayner said in a stage whisper.

"No way!" Olette said, her cheeks flushing. "And he doesn't have a lisp! Do you even know what that is?"

Hayner shrugged. "I know it means he talks funny. Which he  _does._ "

"You're being really offensive."

Roxas could feel it again, the fragile surface of this town thinning, becoming nearly transparent.

_We're living on borrowed time._

"'Ah, Olette,'" Hayner said dramatically, taking on a heavy accent. "'Your eyes are like ze finest of grasses to reside beneath our feets. Your-'" he couldn't keep it up with a straight face anymore and he burst out laughing. Pence was laughing along with him, and Olette looked like she was ready to hurt somebody very soon.

_It was supposed to be over already. This world…_

"If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?" Roxas wondered aloud.

They all stopped to look at him.

"What?" Pence asked.

"Have you not ever wondered the reason why we were put  _here?_ " Roxas insisted it as fervently as if they ought to know exactly what he was talking about. "Why  _Twilight Town?_  Is it some kind of joke? A clever play on words? Or is it literally a place fading into darkness? Well, I guess it couldn't be, could it." He mumbled to himself, "It's not real."

"Roxas? Are you feeling okay? You're not making sense." Olette said with an uncertain smile.

Roxas looked at her intensely for a moment before dropping his gaze. "Yeah, just thinking out loud," he muttered, relenting from his tirade. "You know how weird I get when I don't get enough sleep."

Antagonizing Hayner, Pence, and Olette was pointless, really. Anything he said to them would either be smoothed over or erased from their memory, just like how his fall from the station tower had been. It was actually kind of funny to think of, knowing he could jump from a building here and not get hurt. He could tell his three friends everything, and they would probably not remember it later- if they believed him in the first place.

"Well, tomorrow's the perfect time to get all that stuff off your mind." Hayner said, clapping a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Even more of a reason why you ought to join the contest with me! We can puke our guts out together!"

"Which  _will_ happen if the two of you are going to be competing against each other in it." Olette said dryly.

"Yeah," Pence laughed, "You'll regret it later if Roxas beats you again, you know."

"Nah." Hayner shrugged. "The only way he's gonna beat me is maybe in the contest of who has the most regurgitated pie by the end."

"Ew." Olette said, crinkling her nose. "You're so disgusting."

"Not as disgusting as you getting all goo-goo eyed over Mr. Maestro."

" _What did you say?"_

Slowly Roxas began once again to sink out of the conversation. He just couldn't concentrate.

 _What happened to Naminé?_  He wondered.  _What's going to happen to me?_

Bizarre figures swirled through his mind- faces, places- things he'd never seen but felt he'd always known. The mysterious bandaged man and his accomplice… Axel, Naminé, Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy…

…Sora.

Just thinking the name made Roxas shudder. Although he still wasn't exactly sure  _what_  Sora was to him, the conversations he'd had with Naminé made it pretty clear that that was one person he wanted very much to stay away from. Not that  _she'd_  ever said as much.

She had said that Sora needed him in order to be completely whole again. What did that mean? Roxas wasn't sure he wanted to stick around to find out. But the maddening thing about it was that he had no idea how to leave, or even what he would do if he managed to. He now knew that he'd once been a part of the Organization. Would he go back?

No. Even if his identity now was a complete lie, it still didn't feel as if he could ever imagine himself donning the sinister black cloak under the title 'Number XIII' once again. Not to mention he got the feeling that they would not just accept him back so easily…ah, but these were futile thoughts. The Organization was the least of his concern when he didn't even know how to escape from this place- this strikingly real imitation of reality.

But what was this unsettling normalcy? Apart from the visit to the mansion this morning, nothing out of the ordinary had happened today. No sign of Axel, or the strange white creatures that attacked him. No sightings of the bandaged man or his hooded friend, either. He felt that something was missing- the strange events had come to an untimely halt, and as much as it bothered him to admit it, the lack of action probably meant something was wrong.

It was supposed to be over already.

Today was calm. Tomorrow was the fair.

The last day of summer.

 


	2. Day of the Fair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My chapters in between 1 and 20 have the same date as ch 1 since I don't know when they were all posted, but they are spread from '07 to '11.

The Organization's number I, Xemnas, sat atop his throne, the tallest of all of the thrones in the blank-white room. His face was stoic as always- only the tapping of one gloved finger betrayed his impatience.

He heard the unmistakable sound of someone portaling in. Xemnas sat up and looked to see Saïx sitting on the seventh throne, his legs crossed and his hands folded imperiously in his lap.

"Well?" Xemnas prompted.

"Xigbar has been sent, Superior." Saïx said coolly. "And Axel stands outside eagerly awaiting your command."

His tone spoke complete disdain of the matter at hand.

"Something is troubling you?"

"More than one 'somethings,' Superior," Saïx said calmly, resting his hands on the arms of his throne. "This plan is not only reckless, but- even worse- it will strain the loyalty of your subordinates. To suddenly change direction only to imitate the failed plan of the traitors is-"

"Do not mistake me," Xemnas said in a tone that stilled Saïx instantly. "The plan remains ultimately the same as before. But there are other factors involved. For example, the old fool…or 'DiZ' as he likes to call himself these days…he knows who we are and what our purpose is. He knows our location, and he holds the secrets to much of our research. Then there is the mouse king, Mickey. If he was to discover that the old friend he has been searching for was right under his nose this whole time, might he not go at once to get the answers from him? Not to mention that both Mickey and that boy Riku wield Keyblades. It would be disastrous for them to discover this place before the time is right. They are actively fighting the Heartless; but their primary mission is to find us. We need a way to disarm them effectively, as well as have the biggest factor in the success of constructing Kingdom Hearts under our control."

"Sora." Saïx murmured. His rare objection to the Superior was quickly dimming as he could see where this idea was going.

"Acting alone, he is formidable enough. We must ensure that his actions remain in our best interest."

"But still…"

"I am well aware that it will take more than Naminé's influence to make this plan successful," Xemnas said, a bite of impatience in his voice. "We have all seen that the heart cannot be manipulated to betray its true nature. The traitors' attempt failed because of their severe mishandling of the Keybearer's heart- or perhaps their underestimation of it. They became so absorbed in the temptation to ruthlessly study the heart of a chosen one that they became distracted from their purpose. Imagine how successful they could have been if they had turned their talents to actually  _convince_  him to fight us. Imagine! Foiled by the inability to lie to a mere child. They behaved like amateurs. We will not make that same mistake." Xemnas waved his hand idly. "The best sort of trap is one where the prey doesn't know that it is trapped. By doing this, we have more assurance that all factors are under our control. And we also have something perhaps even more valuable- a plan the enemy will not foresee."

Saïx bowed his head. "Of course."

Xemnas gave a thin smile. "Send Axel in. I must give him his task."

Saïx hesitated. "What of number XIII?"

"The Organization does not let traitors go unpunished. That always remains the same. Still, he could be very useful…we can use him to make Sora all the more powerful."

"Undoubtedly, Axel will be delighted to hear that." Saïx said in a dry tone that could have almost been considered sarcasm.

Xemnas gave an unconcerned shrug. "Maybe. He will not know of it until it is too late for him to interfere, in any case. To him, I know nothing of the fact that his loyalty is not strictly to the Organization- either that, or he simply doesn't care that it's obvious. We'll just let him hold on to that delusion as long as he will." He gave a small chuckle. "And if it comes down to it…well…the Organization can function just fine without him."

"Understood. I'll send him in at once." Saïx bowed his head again and vanished in a plume of darkness.

* * *

"But why would they take  _Naminé?_ " Riku said, pacing about the computer room. "I thought it was  _Roxas_ they were after."

"By taking Roxas, they could stall Sora's awakening, and make him less powerful when he  _did_ awake. Capturing Naminé proved to be easier, especially with our guard down." DiZ said bitterly. "I never imagined they'd be brazen enough to invade this very mansion. Two different tactics with the same result- my revenge is ruined."

"It's not the same!" Riku burst out. "So what, Sora would have been weaker. He managed to save all of the worlds and seal Kingdom Hearts without Roxas! Without Naminé- he can't even wake up!"

Riku's hindsight was horribly clear. Why hadn't they guarded Naminé better? She couldn't even defend herself like Roxas could. How could they have not foreseen this kind of scenario?

"They may be attempting to use Naminé to manipulate Sora, as they did before." DiZ said doubtfully. "It seems strange for them to repeat that failed plan, though…and in order for them to do that, anyway, they'd have to get-"

A loud crash from the pod room interrupted their conversation.

"…Sora."

Riku swore and ran to the pod room, fighting down the panic that was threatening to overwhelm him. No…this couldn't be happening…not after all the time, the effort…

When Riku reached the blank white pod room, his worst fears were confirmed. The pod was cracked open, a big portion of it swaying up and down where it had landed like a giant discarded eggshell. Axel was standing there in plain view, a dark portal at his back and a deeply unconscious Sora slung over his shoulder. He smirked, then stepped backwards into the portal with a mocking bow, moments before Riku's blade slashed through the space he had just been.

"Damn it!"

Riku immediately summoned a portal of his own, ready to chase that red-haired bastard down.

"Wait."

Riku turned impatiently to DiZ, who had followed him in.  _"What?_ They just took Sora, in case you didn't notice!" Riku was very tempted to just go ahead and leave without bothering with the bandaged man.

"You must find Roxas- right now." DiZ said sternly. "If I am right, they will be after him next."

"Who cares? They just-"

"I assure you, without Roxas, they cannot awaken Sora for awhile yet, even with Naminé's assistance." DiZ walked over to the pod as if to survey the damage, his lack of concern over Sora simply infuriating. "And when they do wake him, he will be at less than full power. We need to secure Roxas as soon as possible.  _Then_ we can regroup and focus our energies on finding Sora. I believe they are counting on us making such a novice mistake as to leave on a hopeless chase in anger and have Roxas remain in the open. Besides…do you even remember how to find the Nobodies' world?"

Riku hated to admit it, but it was true that although he did remember fighting Roxas in The World That Never Was, he no longer had faintest inkling of how to get there- otherwise, he would have stormed the place with Mickey and ended this a long time ago. Even his vision of it was vague, just like everything that happened between the time he lost his memory and regained it was. Worse, he was almost positive that DiZ knew the secret of how to get there- and that was all the more infuriating. Disgusted that he would have to follow the man's orders at least a little while longer, Riku marched out to find Roxas. What else could he do to help Sora besides cooperate with DiZ?

* * *

Roxas stretched and yawned as he walked into the back alley that led to the Usual Spot. He was well rested this morning, his dreams blissfully blank the night before. It was a surprise, considering all the things he had to think about.

"Hey guys, I-" Roxas pushed aside the ratty old blanket they used as a door only to find the Usual Spot completely empty. "…Oh."

"'Morning, Roxas." Olette's voice came from behind him. "Hayner and Pence went to help out with the opening at the Sandlot. They heard that Seifer and his gang were helping, so now suddenly it's a competition of who can be 'good citizen of Twilight Town.'" Olette rolled her eyes and walked into the Usual Spot. Roxas followed, sitting down at the end of the beaten-up old couch where he always sat.

"Yeah, that sounds like them." He laughed.

"Hey, what's that?" Olette said curiously, pointing at the small sketchpad Roxas was holding.

"You…noticed that I had this?" Roxas said in clear surprise, holding it up.

"Sure." Olette said. "Why wouldn't I? You've never liked to draw…isn't it a sketchbook?"

"Well…yeah."

"Can I see it? Are you any good?"

"Oh- no- this isn't mine." Roxas said hurriedly. "But…um…you can look at it if you want to, I guess." With some uncertainty, Roxas handed it over.

When he woke up in his room after the last day at the mansion, he had found this sketchpad sitting on his desk. Ever since then, he had looked over the sketches many times- and today, bringing it with him just felt like the thing to do.

Of course, he never would have anticipated that such a thing would be noticed by his friends. Everything ordinary was fake- everything bizarre was reality. And somehow the two were touching when they'd been kept forcibly apart before. Olette silently flipped through the sketches, her bright green eyes thoughtfully taking in the somewhat clumsy scribbles.

"Who did these? Where'd you get it?" she said, clearly impressed. "These are very creative. Is this  _you?_ " she laid one slender finger on a close-up sketch of Roxas in Organization attire.

"Yes." He replied quietly. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "The girl in the mansion drew all of those. I…I think she gave them to me somehow."

Olette looked at him seriously. Roxas had felt silly admitting his thoughts to someone he was pretty sure wouldn't understand, someone that was nothing more than a computer simulation designed to fool Roxas into believing DiZ's lies, but the look she was giving him was not what he had expected in response. He'd expected a giggle and a "Roxas, you're letting all those ghost stories get to you. It's probably some secret admirer!"

Uncomfortable with the silence, Roxas said, "It sounds dumb, I know."

Olette shook her head and closed the sketchbook. She held it out for Roxas to take back and said, very gently, "If she was the one to give this to you, then there was probably a good reason. I think you should hold onto it, at least until you know what that reason is."

Roxas stared at her as he slowly took the sketchpad back.

"Y-yeah." He said dumbly.

Olette suddenly seemed to snap back into her usual self. She stood up and said, "C'mon, let's go to the Sandlot! It's starting now, and we gotta make sure Hayner doesn't get in trouble too early." She gave a wink and ran out of the Usual Spot.

Roxas shook his head. He ran after Olette. Despite everything, he was actually looking forward to the fair. He just hoped that nothing when awry while he was there.

Unfortunately, he failed to notice the small group of Dusks following him at a distance in their slithery way.

* * *

The Sandlot was the epicenter of the day's festivities, though the fair was extended to encompass all of Tram Common as well. The Struggle ring was set up in the center; only instead of being draped with the Struggle banners, it was decorated with orange and red ribbons, colors mimicking Twilight Town's perpetual sunset. The ring was a stage for live entertainment as well as a dance floor.

All of the booths and fair equipment were cleared out of the Sandlot's storage building, its metal doors rolled up and the extra space utilized as a bar. Contained within the building, it was easier to ensure no one underage got in (Hayner usually tried every year, though- dragging Roxas along with him more often than not). Around the stage were extra benches and tables set up so people could sit and eat while they watched the band play. And was there plenty to eat! Popcorn, hot dogs, cotton candy, blooming onions, potato spirals, taffy, homemade ice cream, barbeque, and- holy of holies- funnel cakes. There were more kinds of food there than someone could sample in just one day.

The Sandlot being too small to contain more than just the basics, Tram Common was lined with booths selling the traditional as well as the unusual. This is where the citizens of Twilight Town got to show off any unique talent or craft; the greatest thing about the fair being that it was never exactly the same two years in a row. Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette had gone with their usual game plan- split up to explore this year's attractions for an hour, then meet back up at the Sandlot to plan out the rest of the day.

Roxas strolled casually around Tram Common, blue eyes scanning the booths lining almost every inch of the walls. It would have been quicker to take the tram around a couple of laps but Roxas had always preferred to take his time looking at all the interesting wares.

 _Maybe._ He thought.  _At least that's what I_ _ **remember**_ _always doing. This is probably the first time I've actually done this…if this is in fact what I am doing._

He really needed to stop thinking.

Roxas shook his head and focused on taking in the sights. There was the old lady who ran one of the regular shops on Tram Common (the one that was always losing her cat), selling her homemade jams and jellies and pickled vegetables. There were normal things like strawberry and grape, but a few oddities were always thrown into the mix specifically for this event. He paused by the table full of jam and saw flavors such as jalapeño (would anyone buy that?) and mint.

The next booth sold soaps and candles. The one after that had hand-blown glass and jewelry. After that there was a man that drew caricatures. He sat with his easel in front of his designated booth, which had a few recent scribbles posted up. The man was a regular at the fair, and was usually considered a must-visit by the residents of Twilight Town. Already he had a good-sized collection of sketches up. The man would draw anyone for free- a few Munny and the drawing was yours. Roxas stopped to look at them, grinning at the few familiar faces he saw. He walked around to see the ones on the side, and suddenly the smile fell off his face as his eyes widened.

"Axel!"

Instantly wary, Roxas whirled around as if to see Axel standing right behind him. He wasn't there. Roxas carefully scanned the crowds, paranoia prickling its way up his arms and the back of his neck.

Nothing. There was no sign of the hot-headed Nobody, who would surely stick out if he was there. Carefully Roxas turned back to the drawing. It was definitely Axel, no mistake. He was drawn in comical caricature style, but his 'crazy maniac' grin was captured perfectly as he flashed a thumbs-up and a wink. He looked as if he knew full well that Roxas would see the picture and react like this, his expression a taunt.

"Hey, Roxas!" Roxas jumped. "Thinking about buying a picture? Only 30 Munny for a sketch, 50 for a colored picture." The artist said. His regular job was the ice cream vendor, so he knew Roxas and his friends quite well.

"No thanks. Um…" Roxas pointed at Axel's picture. "When did this guy come here?"

"Oh, him?" the man turned in his chair to look. "He was here earlier, before the Sandlot opened. A lot of people like to set up their booths early, and visitors come even before the official start. Strange fellow. He said he was waiting for someone and he needed to kill some time."

"Which way did he go?"

"Off that way, I think." He pointed in the direction Roxas had been heading. "But he could be anywhere by now." He looked at Roxas curiously and was about to ask him something, but Roxas quickly thanked the man and left.

The more steps he took, the quicker and more desperate his pace became. Had he really thought that it was over?

He looked left and right around at all the people he passed, and peered into every tent and booth set up along the way. A stand selling polished rocks and statuettes; a waxworks shop where couples could buy wax roses or make a mold of their clasped hands; a sweetery with candied apples and homemade fudge…

He was approaching the games now. First there was a game where you tossed flat aluminum rings like overgrown washers onto bottles lined up on a shelf in the back of the booth. Roxas stopped abruptly when he reached it.

There was Axel, brow furrowed as he lined up a shot. He had a metal disk poised in one hand, and three more in the other. He bent his arm, ready to toss.

"Hey!"

Axel jumped, his aim going wide and the disc sailing uselessly to the right before crashing into the booth's wall. He whirled around, ready to torch whoever had wreaked his concentration, until he saw Roxas standing there. His anger dropped instantly, replaced with the usual sarcastic smirk.

"Ah, Roxas." He said, standing up straighter and laying the rings down on the booth. "There you are. It's about time!"

"What do you want?" Roxas demanded bluntly, hand itching to draw his Keyblade, but wary of the people milling about. This wasn't the place for a fight.

"Hey, don't get all hostile on me now." Axel held up his hands in a pacifying manner. "I'm just here to give you a warning. You might want to hear it- and if you waste any more time, it could be too late."

Roxas watched Axel cautiously. It was impossible to tell what the flame-head was up to, and now that Roxas remembered him a little more, he was unsure that Axel was his enemy as he had originally believed.

"…Yeah?"

Axel seemed relieved. "I thought it might interest you to know that we've captured both Naminé  _and_  Sora."

Roxas froze.  _"What?"_

"That's right. Not sure how much you happen to know about the whole thing, but the only reason why you're not living inside of Keyboy's head right this moment is because we kidnapped him. Any second now someone is going to be sent here to find  _you,_ as well. The Superior wants the use of your services again. He wants three Keyblades on his side, apparently."

He spoke this last sentence casually enough, but it was clear that it meant something to him, because he watched Roxas carefully as he said it, as if gauging his reaction. Roxas, who could not understand anything Axel was doing, straightened up into a slightly less defensive stance.

"Wh…why are you telling me this?" Roxas said, astonished.

Axel shrugged. "I get the feeling that working alongside Sora is the last thing you want to do. Besides, the old you quit the Organization. You might not remember it, but I do- you told me that if you ever managed to escape from there, that you wanted me to do whatever I could to cover your tracks. And if you still don't wanna be a part of it, then I still intend to do that."

"Yeah, but…what about all this time when you kept trying to drag me back there?" Roxas said.

Axel's voice dropped a little and he muttered, "Well, of course I was ordered to bring you back, but who knows? If you somehow escaped again it certainly wouldn't be  _my_ fault." He crossed his arms.

It took a moment before the real meaning behind this sunk in. Roxas actually cracked a small smile.

"So…what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, there's only two options. Cooperate with your…escort, or find a way out of here before he comes. I'm sorry that I can't just take you with me now-" he gave a leer, "But I'm supposed to be confined to my room and kept far away from you at the moment. I don't have much time here, and, unfortunately, I need to stay on the Superior's good side a little while longer. My advice to you is to try to get to the basement of DiZ's mansion. There's a portal there that will take you to the real Twilight Town. At least there you aren't being constantly traced and monitored. When everything back home cools down, I can come find you there. The only other way is to come back to the Organization and escape again. But it'll be hard." Axel glanced around. "Anyway, I'll see you later. Now would not be a good time to be seen talking with you." Black tendrils of darkness enveloped Axel and he vanished into dark smoke.

Roxas stood still for a moment.

"The  _real_  Twilight Town…" he whispered. He shouldn't have been surprised. It didn't make sense, after all, to think that one man could make a whole town, full of people with personalities and histories, all on his own. Or perhaps Roxas' reaction was from the blunt, unsympathetic confirmation… _this town wasn't real._

Someone from the Organization was coming after him. It was now or never. Roxas' feet felt glued to the ground. Why the mansion, of all places? In order to escape, he'd have to go right through the fire. But it was either that, or go back to the Organization. Despite what Axel had said, Roxas was sure that escaping again would be more than hard- nearly impossible. Surely they knew by now that Axel had helped him run away before?

Roxas forced his legs to move, running for the hole in the wall that led to the mansion. There may have been rips and gaps in his understanding, but there was one thing he did know for sure- he had to get out of here before this world unraveled and fell into nothingness, taking him along with it.

Of course, Axel hadn't known Xemnas' exact plan for Roxas. It was extremely rare that he ever missed any movements of the Organization, and of those rare occasions, this could probably be considered the most disastrous. If he'd had the faintest inkling that they intended to rejoin Roxas with Sora, Axel would have dropped all pretenses at obedience and taken Roxas with him, severing ties with the Organization right then and there.

But that's the funny little thing about 'if'.

Roxas had approximately half a second to react when a nearby booth suddenly exploded into sharp splintery bits. His body twisted around and avoided a flying piece of wood before his brain even began to understand what was happening. Roxas overbalanced and stumbled backwards, tripped over debris, and fell rather clumsily to the ground.

"Ow." Roxas sat up. His hands stung from where he'd tried to catch himself.

Another explosion brought him back to his senses. People were screaming, running around in terror and confusion.

It was all unraveling so fast.

Roxas was on his feet in an instant when he saw silvery Dusks bounding and weaving in among the people, attacking everyone and everything around them. The screaming rose to a panicked crescendo as the defenseless citizens fell, the Dusks' sharp arms scratching and stabbing. Roxas stared in horror at the violent swirl of screams and blood that looked all too real to him.

"Hayner?" He yelled, pushing his way frantically through the chaos. "Pence?  **Olette!** "

He'd forgotten again they weren't real. All he saw was disaster and all he could think of was to cling to the only thing he thought could be real.

He should have just kept running.

Another booth exploded, and now Roxas saw that it had been torn apart by some invisible force…as if a small hurricane had contained itself in that one spot.

_Xaldin…_

Roxas whirled around and saw Number III standing far away but staring right at him, a sinister smirk playing about his lips. The carnage swirled all around him as he walked toward Roxas, bits of wood and debris tossed in a high wind.

"This world is falling apart." He commented, his voice surrounding Roxas, oddly clear, when all else was becoming increasingly muffled by the howling wind. "Then again, it is just a confused little place with no heart. All fake- all just like you."

Roxas summoned the Keyblade. He had no idea what he thought he was doing, only that there was some instinct from the depths of his memory screaming at him, telling him that he had to fight, that he must not let this man take him back to that place. Roxas tightened his grip on the Keyblade. It was now, or never. Xaldin summoned his spears.

A swirling column of darkness suddenly blocked Roxas' vision. When it cleared, a tall cloaked figure stood in front of him, aiming a strange, wing-shaped blade at Xaldin.

"This way! Hurry!" an unexpected voice came from behind him, and before he knew it, Roxas found himself being pulled toward a dark portal by a small hooded figure with…big round ears? Roxas dropped the Keyblade and it vanished. There was no time for him to do or say anything. He plunged deep into icy darkness.


	3. Nobody

**no** • **bod** • **y**

_-pronoun_

no person; not anyone; no one:  _Nobody answered, so I hung up._

_-noun_

a person of no importance, influence, or power.

* * *

"-me go! Let me go!"

Saïx turned his golden eyes to the disturbance that had invaded the silence of his room. Xigbar was there, holding a struggling Naminé by the arm. Her efforts to free herself were utterly useless; like a butterfly frantically beating its wings against a human's grip.

"Be quiet, witch!" Xigbar snarled, jerking her arm.

"Whatever it is that you want from me, I won't do it!" Naminé cried. "You can't make me-"

Saïx walked over and gave Naminé a hard smack. The girl stilled instantly, her face turned to the side. An angry red welt slowly started to rise on her fair skin. Xigbar let her go, and her arm dropped limply to the side.

"S-Saïx!" she choked out. She had been so determined to free herself from Xigbar's clutches that she hadn't even noticed where he was taking her. Out of all the members of the Organization, Saïx had always frightened her the most. His cold exterior only barely concealed the psychotic side underneath. He was merciless, as well as wholly dedicated to the Organization- a combination that made him very dangerous.

"I'm glad to see that you remember me, Naminé." Saïx said smoothly. Naminé stared at the floor and trembled.

"Now then," he idly stroked a lock of her flaxen hair. "Did I just hear you say that you weren't going to help us out?"

"What do you want?" her voice was quivering.

"Come, Naminé. I would think it's obvious. Why do you  _think_  we would go out of our way to bring you here? The Superior wants Sora to be on our side."

This surprised Naminé enough that she looked up, her eyes wide.

"That will never work! Do you really think I'm going to- AH!" she winced as Saïx grabbed a handful of her hair.

"I don't know what gave you the impression that you had a choice." He said coldly. "Whatever it was, I'm sure we can remedy it."

Naminé had tears of pain in her eyes.

"I- won't- hurt Sora." She said. "You can kill me if you want to. I won't do it." She cried out again as Saïx pulled harder.

Xigbar crossed his arms. "Your life isn't the only one at stake, witch." he said. "We thought that you might be reluctant to help us. That is why we took him, too. Your precious Sora is here."

Naminé stopped struggling. "He's here? But-!"

"Yes," Saïx said, pushing her at Xigbar. "And you'll be kept with him. You see, we are not unreasonable. No harm will come to you or to Sora as long as you cooperate." His eyes flashed with malicious amusement as Naminé stumbled and nearly fell from his push. He was satisfied with the fear in her gaze- soon, he was sure, she would be under their thumb. "If you have any other concerns, you can take them up with the Superior whenever he decides to meet with you. In the meantime, you will be provided with a cell to stay in."

Xigbar took that as a cue and summoned a dark portal. He tugged Naminé along with him and the pair vanished.

Saïx stood still for a moment before turning back to his contemplation as if nothing had interrupted him. So far, things were going according to plan. He was confident in Xemnas' ability to make this work- still, he wondered. How they could possibly hinge all their hopes on Naminé, when she was prone to these foolish outbursts of stubbornness? Bringing Sora into their very stronghold, as well, was a dangerous risk, and his heart had already proved stronger than any attempt to bend him against his will. To make the organization appear 'good in his eyes' as Xemnas had said would surely require heavy reliance upon Naminé's powers. Perhaps all they would have to do was find a way to wash away all the confidence that Naminé had managed to build up this past year. Sora's will was strong, but Naminé's was weak. Break her, and they could break him.

Saïx looked out of the window to the heart-shaped moon hanging in the sky.

"Soon." He said softly.

* * *

Roxas was aware of a soft, constant hum. He opened his eyes to stare at a brightly-colored and slightly springy floor. Cautiously he sat up, a rushing feeling invading his brain and clouding his vision with points of light before fading into a vague throb. He stood shakily, swaying slightly as the floor underneath threatened to pitch him forward. This place was unfamiliar, and he had a hard time grasping just what was going on.

"Are you okay?" that same strangely high-pitched voice from before…

Roxas looked down to see an oversized mouse looking up at him in concern. His hood was now thrown back.

"I…I think so…" Roxas said, puzzled. "What…happened?" suspicion sharpened his features as he realized that the mouse was wearing the same coat as the Organization. "Who are you?"

The mouse's face sank into a frown. "Golly, I woulda thought you'd have remembered by now."

Roxas looked momentarily pained as a flurry of images flashed through his mind. Undoubtedly, the voice was familiar…

_Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!_

"King…Mickey?" confused, Roxas put a hand on the soft wall. His mind was working through the tangled mess of memories. He was pretty sure that Mickey wasn't with the Organization…but then, why was he wearing that coat? Wasn't he one of the good guys? But wait! Didn't that mean he was here to help out Sora?

Roxas' eyes lit up with realization. He turned around, only to find his way blocked by the cloaked man from before.

"Where do you think you're going?" he intoned in his deep voice, uncrossing his arms as if to prepare for a struggle. "We're on a Gummi ship. There's nowhere to run."

Roxas glanced around and saw that the man was right. Space whizzed by on a large viewscreen. Though Roxas did not think that he'd ever been on a Gummi ship before, there was no mistaking it.

"You've been helping that bandaged man." Roxas said uncertainly. The man snorted and walked past Roxas with a dismissive air, sitting down at the Gummi's controls without answering.

"Roxas." Mickey said. Roxas removed his glare from the hooded man to look (only slightly less fiercely) at the mouse king. "I know you don't really know what's going on, but you're just gonna have to trust us for right now if you don't want Organization XIII to find you again."

"You only want to save me from them so that you can rejoin me with Sora." Roxas said coldly.

Mickey frowned. "I dunno." He said carefully. "But I do know that I want what's best for both Sora and the worlds. And as long as the Organization has Sora prisoner, I know that the best thing is to keep the two of you far, far apart."

"So... they do have Sora?" Roxas said. "Tell me what's going on. I know he had to be one of the ones keeping me locked up in that computer program." he gestured at the guy in the hood. "Don't pretend. I know everything."

Mickey looked very worried. "I'm sorry we helped keep you there, but DiZ thought it would probably be the most humane way-"

"You don't know anywhere close to everything." the hooded man interrupted darkly from his post.

"Roxas, we didn't rescue you just because of our own interests. Since it is because of us that you were in that place, it's our responsibility if anything happens to you. I just know the Organization would have killed you." Mickey pleaded.

Roxas' stance became a little less tense. He seemed to think for a moment, before speaking in a guarded tone, "Where are we going?"

"To my world." Mickey said. "The Organization isn't familiar with it as far as I know, and we have powerful protection at my castle. We should be safe there while we regroup. Please rest for now. I promise- we won't let them find you. It'll be awhile, so make yourself comfortable. There are a few rooms that you can rest in."

Roxas doubted that he'd ever feel completely comfortable in this situation, especially if that mysterious hooded man kept hanging around. But he did want to be alone to think for awhile. Maybe he could figure a way out of this mess. Roxas nodded and left without another word.

Mickey watched him leave before going to sit at the controls beside Riku.

"Was it really a good idea to tell him that?" Riku asked.

"Hrm?"

"Knowing that he's safe from Sora as long as he's in the Organization's clutches may make Roxas even less motivated to help us find him."

"It just doesn't  _feel_  right, Riku." Mickey crossed his arms and sighed. "It's such an awful choice to hafta make. We don't know what could happen to Sora if they stay separate for too long. But basically taking Roxas' life away... hrm. This is why I've stayed out of it until now." He shook his head regretfully. "I've no doubt that he could be the biggest help to us if he could be persuaded to. The connection he has with Sora, and his past with the Organization…but that won't happen." He broke off suddenly, staring out into space.

"What?"

"You know…" Mickey said sadly, "Nobodies depend on their memories to guide them because they don't have a heart to follow. And everything that Roxas remembers is being used by someone or another. That's all his life ever was. Maybe... by showing him we're not like that... he could trust us."

"That's kind of a weak hope if you ask me, but whatever." Riku said. He was silent for a moment. "You know, I watched him a lot. Sometimes I really think he cared about those friends of his."

"Yep…" Mickey said quietly.

* * *

Roxas wandered around his room, poking around every bit of it with a mixture of restlessness and boredom. The entire room was decked out with black and white in perfect contrast. The walls, the floor, and the ceiling were white and polished like Naminé's room back at the mansion. There was a furry black rug on the floor, a modern-looking black dresser, and a black beanbag chair in the corner. Here and there were a few red touches as well, like red pillows on the black-and-white checkered bed, or the little red fish swimming in a fish bowl on his desk. His favorite shape- the star- was employed everywhere from the handles on the dresser to the pattern on the lampshade.

The moment he'd seen this room, he had no doubt that it was meant to be his. The question was why, and how.

Roxas opened his closet and frowned when all he found there were black shirts, pants, heavy boots, and ominous black Organization coats. He lifted the sleeve of one and ran his thumb over it absently, and something seemed to flicker in his memory. He shook his head to dispel the feeling. Best to focus on wrapping his mind around everything that had happened, and was still happening here.

Who was that man? Why was he working for DiZ? So far it didn't look as if they were taking him back to DiZ… but he was sketchy. Who's to say he couldn't be working separately from Mickey?

Well, no matter what happened, one thing was for sure. He was finally free- at least the most free he'd ever been since the day he was born.

And he wasn't completely convinced the Organization was after him just to kill him. He had a feeling what they really wanted was to use the side of Light's plan right back at it. To that end... it was probably for the best that he hide for awhile until he figured out what to do.

Roxas quietly closed the closet door. So many things to think about. The question was, what was the right action to take- and which was the right side to trust?

* * *

Naminé hugged her knees tightly, looking hopelessly around at the cell she'd been placed in. from her vantage point, curled up in the corner, she couldn't see any way to escape from here. The cell was pure white, solid on three sides, and a wall of slender white bars on the other. The bars were permanently attached to the ceiling and floor- undoubtedly, the only way in and out was by way of a dark portal. Naminé berated herself for never learning how to summon them while she was working for DiZ…the Organization had always prevented her from trying. She had been looking forward to finishing Sora's restoration so she could be free to pursue things for herself…traveling to the worlds. Maybe even find out something that could help Sora's mission…not to mention she'd always wanted to meet Kairi. But now, it seemed that all of that had come to a crashing halt.

Naminé raised her eyes to the surprisingly cushy-looking bed in the opposite corner. Just as Saïx had promised, Sora was here with her. He slept peacefully on the immaculate white sheets. Even his clothes had been changed to match the room- he wore a plain white T-shirt with baggy white shorts. She knew that whatever reason the Organization had for keeping them together, it could not be anything good.

" _It may have started with a lie, but I'm really glad I met you, Sora."_

Naminé sighed. She could only imagine what sort of things Xemnas wanted to do with her powers at his disposal. How could she escape this? She could refuse…but Sora wouldn't want her to do that if it meant the Organization would hurt her.

Naminé shook her head. What was she thinking? Sora didn't even know her anymore.

But all the same, after a year's worth of work, it just wasn't fair for her to have to mess everything up again. And aside from that admittedly selfish view, it wasn't only Naminé and Sora's safety at stake- lots of other people needed the Keybearer too. If there was anything she could do to stop it,  _anything_ …

"Yo."

Naminé jumped and turned her head to see Xigbar smirking at her through the bars.

"Sorry to interrupt your ogling of the Keybearer, memory witch," He said, his one visible eye twinkling maliciously. "But you've been given orders from the Superior." He reached through the bars and laid a brand new sketchbook on the desk that set on the opposite side of the cell from where she was sitting.

"Orders?" Naminé asked nervously.

"Yeah. The first thing he wants is for you to wipe out the boy's memory."

This was exactly what she'd feared. Naminé jumped to her feet. "I told you before that I won't do it! And besides, I can't just erase everything at once! It would crush his heart."

"Quit being so dramatic." Xigbar said lazily. "You keep acting like we haven't got the faintest idea how your powers work. Of course you can't eliminate everything at once- or even fully eliminate at all. But while he is in that deep slumber, the manipulation of his memories is a less dangerous thing. He went to sleep not remembering, and if he wakes up not remembering, the separate knowledge of his heart and his conscious mind won't come into conflict at all. You have a week to do it. That should be enough time."

Naminé was silent for a moment. Undoubtedly, Xemnas was proving to be much smarter than Marluxia.

"Still, it isn't good to mess around with his memories so much," Naminé protested feebly. "If I take away his real memories again and replace them with something formulated by the Organization, it could permanently damage his memory. It could even drive him insane. Fake memories are much harder for the heart to accept. Not to mention that it would take a long time to rewrite a new history for him- as long as it took to put his real memories back in the first place. Maybe even longer!"

Xigbar shrugged. "Like Number VII said, you'll just have to take that up with the Superior when he meets with you. I don't know his exact plans. But I  _can_  say," he gave a thin smile, "that you should give up any hopes that you'll be able to find a way out of it. When he found out that a plot to take over the Organization had happened right under his nose, he made sure that he understood everything behind it, and that includes the things you're capable of most of all. He has always been a scientist first, you know." Xigbar glanced over to where Sora was sleeping, blissfully unaware of where he was or what the people around him were discussing. He gave Naminé a smirk and walked off, his footsteps echoing down the long white hallway.

Naminé listened to his steps for a moment, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. She clenched and unclenched her shaking fists. Naminé went over to the desk and picked the sketchbook up, flipping the blank pages. It was different from the one she was used to; it was thicker, bound by a vertical spiral, like a notebook. The cover was oddly cute- blue with a cheery-looking yellow flower on the front. She couldn't think of a single member of the Organization who would get her such a thing- except perhaps Marluxia, but he was dead. She pulled open a few drawers on the desk, and, as she had expected, she found numerous boxes of crayons and pencils in there. She slowly closed the drawers and looked at Sora. She was sure, now, the reason why they'd decided to lock them up together. How could she possibly do this?

How could she possibly not?

" _No! Not goodbye! I'll find you after I wake up. And we'll be friends for real. Promise me, Naminé."_

" _You'll only forget."_

" _I won't. Even if you take apart the chain of memories in my heart, the links will stay there. This memory will always be inside me somewhere."_

"… _I guess you're right. Let's promise, then."_

Naminé closed her eyes, trying, and failing, to keep the memory at arms-length. If she went through with what the Organization wanted, that particular memory would haunt her forever.

" _I'll see you again, Naminé."_

" _Sora…the loose links will sink into the darkness in your heart. You won't be able to just reach in and pick the one you want. But there's another promise you made- a promise to someone you can't replace. She's your light. The light within the darkness. If you can remember her…all the memories lost in the shadows of your heart will come into light."_

Naminé's deep blue eyes widened suddenly. Then an excited grin came to her face. Why hadn't she seen it before? There was a perfect way to ensure that Sora could never become twisted around by Organization XIII, and, if she was right, it would be virtually undetectable by them. Some of Naminé's fear abated.  _The light within the darkness_ …she had a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who are wondering, yes, Sora will eventually be in the fanfiction. There's just not a lot I can do with him right now since he's asleep. But you can bet that I've got a few things planned for when he wakes up^^.


	4. The Trek To Disney Castle

"Any reply from DiZ yet?" Mickey asked.

"None." Riku said tersely. Both knew Mickey didn't have to ask; Riku would probably exclaim immediately if he actually managed to break through.

He was typing furiously at a monitor, trying to figure out the status of Twilight Town or at least get DiZ to respond to a message.

"The last time I saw him was in the pod room, right after Sora was kidnapped." Riku said. "He predicted that the Organization would be after Roxas simultaneously. Paranoid as he is, he thought that they wanted Naminé, Sora, and Roxas all in one swoop in order to steal DiZ's greatest weapon out from under him."

"You sound like you don't agree with that."

"It's a good assumption. Hell, it's probably right. No matter what though, I still think we should have chased them to their world and got Sora back as soon as it happened. With their forces scattered, we could have fought." Riku leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "That red-haired Nobody. Axel. He's broken into the system a few times before. On the surface, it looked like he was working a little bit outside the Organization. When he appeared he always tried to jog Roxas' memory in some way or another, but thanks to Naminé's work it was never very effective. We never read much more into it than that. But what gets me...  _he_ is the one that was sent to get Sora, and they sent someone else altogether to go after Roxas."

"They don't trust him when it comes to Roxas." Mickey guessed. "They were okay with sending Axel before because they didn't care as much if he actually succeeded."

" _Exactly._ " Riku said. "That means that either this plan of theirs is brand new, or it was kept a secret up until the very last second. Suddenly they put a lot more force into reaching Roxas. Either they want to make Sora complete like DiZ thought, or they just wanted to put him out of the way."

"Still no sign of DiZ?"

"No. He is probably busy doing damage control and plotting right now. No doubt he'll want us to keep Roxas in our sight at all times. Don't worry though, we'll hear from him as soon as he comes up with a new plan. He can't do anything without his dumb muscle." Riku laughed bitterly.

"When that time comes, we will get him to tell us how to reach the Nobody's world, no matter what he has in mind for us to do. I'll stick by your side on this one, Riku." Mickey said firmly.

"Thank you, my friend."

* * *

Roxas lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling for what felt like a long time. He had already flipped through the sketchbook Naminé left for him several times in his boredom, restlessly searching for some clue in it, some answer. It mattered to him, somehow, that Olette thought he should keep it with him. Tired of going over the same questions over and over, Roxas had set it aside. That hadn't done much good, however, because those questions kept circling when he laid back to watch the ceiling.

Circling like the cheery shapes cast by the rotating lampshade…

Circling…

"Roxas?" a knock came on his cabin door.

Roxas jerked awake. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. Groggily, he swung his legs over the side of the bed to sit up and called, "Yeah?"

"I just came to tell you that we're almost there." Mickey said, opening the door and closing it behind him as he came in.

"Okay." Roxas said warily. Mickey was walking over and, though the bed was almost as tall as he was, he hopped up to sit beside Roxas. It seemed that he was here for more of a reason than to just tell Roxas that they would be arriving soon.

"Roxas," Mickey started seriously- Roxas' foreboding increased. "When we get there, I'm planning on gathering together what information I've found so far- and, from that, come up with a plan of what to do next. We have to figure out a way to find the Organization, and get Sora back."

"And what? You want my help?" Roxas frowned.

Mickey shook his head. "Nope, it's up to you whether you want to participate or not. I know that you probably can't remember much, if anything, about the Organization or where to find them anyway. You might not even want to remember. I can't say that I prefer this situation where you and Sora are separate; but it's not up to me. You gotta understand that. It's between you and Sora now. I don't think that anyone has the right to make that kind of decision except for the two of you- so believe me when I say that even if you choose not to help us fight the Organization, the castle will remain a safe place for you. You can stay there for as long as you like-" he dropped his voice reluctantly, "Or you can leave. I can't really stop you- but you'd be well hidden from the Organization there."

"And what if I want to go back to the Organization?"

Mickey looked startled. "What?"

Roxas shrugged. "I'm just saying. You don't know what it is I do and don't remember. For all you know, I could just turn around and give them whatever information you give me."

Mickey frowned. "If you went back to them…eventually, you would have to fight me."

No lies. No sugar-coating it.

Roxas smiled. "I'm not planning to. I ran away from them by my own choosing- I'm not about to go back. But I'm glad that you're honest." He looked serious again and looked down at his hands. "I think that I can believe whatever you tell me. But what am I supposed to do? I barely remember my old life, and my 'new life' was fake. So tell me: what would  _you_ do?"

Mickey crossed his arms thoughtfully. He was finding Roxas to be very interesting. It was odd how different from Sora he really was- yet, here and there, there were small things still the same.

"Hm…welp, I think that's something you're just going to have to decide for yourself. But, if you wanna know what I think would help you the most… find a way to have your own life. One that isn't already planned out for ya. That's something only you can do. I choose to fight the Organization because they've hurt people and worlds, and they will stop at nothing to accomplish their goal- even kidnap and manipulation. I will find them and help Sora even if I have to search every world to do it. You have to find something to fight for, to live for."

Roxas listened, his eyes tracing the shapes on the wall cast by the bedside lamp. Suddenly his eyes dropped and his eyebrows knitted together in irritation.

"But why?" he said. "Why fight so hard when, for all you know, all this could be fake too? What if there was someone out there making all this up? You might not be a King. Hell, you might not even be a  _mouse!_  How do we know?"

Mickey actually smiled a little. "We don't. Even so, it's better to fight for something than nothing."

Roxas shrugged and dropped the argument.

"But…how  _are_  you getting from world to world? I thought that…" he strained his memory, "the worlds were restored when we- you and…and him…you closed the door."

"That's right." Mickey assured him. "But my old teacher- Master Yen Sid- believes that there are hidden gates that link the worlds together…and to guard against the Heartless, these gates can only be opened with a force of light- that is to say, the Keyblade."

"So…you've opened these gates?"

"Nope." Mickey said. "Without Sora, I don't feel comfortable exposing the worlds- even though they are still reasonably well defended, it's a weak point that's not necessary. Usually we travel using the same paths of darkness that the Organization uses- it's quicker than flying the gummi through regular space, like now…but we're still going to have to go through the darkness to get past the barrier around my world. We're just flying there first."

"Why?" Roxas asked. "If you could have just flown the ship through a portal, why didn't you?"

"Well, we were going to, but we didn't expect you to black out when you got pulled into the darkness."

"What's that got to do with it?" Roxas said.

"Well…that's why I came to warn you that we were almost there. It seems that you've forgotten how to use the dark paths. You're not nearly in as much danger as most people would be, but it still takes a lot of focus and energy to plunge into the darkness. It gets easier with practice, but it will probably be uncomfortable for awhile. Don't worry- Nobodies have a natural aptitude for this sort of thing, so you'll be able to transport yourself in no time. Plus, here on the ship, you won't be directly exposed." Mickey hopped down and went for the door. "C'mon, let's wait up top. Disney Castle sure is a sight from high up!"

Roxas followed Mickey as he scurried ahead in the hallway. Despite it all, he couldn't quite help but like the mouse king- there was just something about him that was disarming, and trustworthy. Roxas hadn't meant to open up and admit that he had no idea what to do now- but it seemed alright that Mickey knew. Mickey wasn't going to force Roxas to give up his life. That cloaked man, however…how did Mickey end up allied with someone like that? Who  _was_ he, anyway?

Roxas looked up as they ascended the stairs to find the object of his musings sitting at the controls, pushing a button here and there, looking over the gauges and monitors. He still did not have his hood down.

Roxas eyed the man suspiciously, and was just about to say something to him when Mickey said, "Ready, Roxas? We're about to pass through into a dark path."

"Yeah." Roxas said distractedly. He started walking over to the man, to possibly ask him who he was- but before he got there, the man pulled hard on the controls- and suddenly everything went black. Roxas gasped and stumbled backwards as the ship jerked sharply into darkness. Every light aboard the ship seemed to have been extinguished- Roxas blindly groped around until he found a nice solid wall to hang on to.

The darkness was like some tangible muck that clung to his skin and clothes, icy and dragging him down. It was difficult to breathe. Everything was oddly muted- he could hear Mickey saying something in a muffled voice, and the man's deep rumble answer. His brain felt heavy and dizziness stole over him as he struggled to draw air from the oppressive surroundings.

And then, with a soft  _whoosh_ , the warmth and light came back. The ship jerked again, and Roxas fell with a mixture of exhaustion and relief.

Disney Castle glinted merrily below them, its medley of bright and appealing colors very welcome after the horrible darkness.

"Are you okay?" Mickey said in concern, moving toward Roxas as he knelt, shaking his head as if to clear water from his ears.

"I'm fine." Roxas said, standing heavily. "Just…uh…that was weird." He swayed slightly, blinked a few times, and let go of the wall once he was sure that his feet knew where the floor was. His skin felt chilled, as if the heavy muck was still clinging to him. The ship was infused with a cold, dry smell that was very familiar, though Roxas couldn't place it.

They were descending rapidly, heading for a closed hatch on the side of the castle.

"Riku to launch crew- the  _Pluto_ is ready to land." The hooded man said. "Hello? Launch crew!  _Over!_ "

"Roger that!" a squeaky voice crackled over the radio. The hatch slowly began to open.

"They never want to listen to me unless I say 'over' every time." He sighed. "I'm starting to think it's their way of entertaining themselves."

Mickey chuckled. Roxas frowned. Something was nagging him, trying to rise to the surface of his fogged brain.

He froze.

The ship had been lowered down into the hatch. It slowly and smoothly eased into port, and, with a small crunch, docked. A pneumatic  _hiss_  sounded and the glass dome covering the cockpit rose up. The hooded man stood.

"Riku?"

The hooded man stiffened, and then, ever so slowly, turned around.

"I beg your pardon?" he said softly.

"You called yourself Riku! I heard you!" Roxas said uncertainly- true, his memories of Riku were vague at best, but this man looked and sounded much older than Riku should have…so how could he be Riku? Mickey was looking back and forth between the two, clearly worried.

"You were helping DiZ." Roxas said slowly. "You stole our munny- you bullied Naminé into not telling me stuff!"

The hooded man crossed his arms.

"You don't know what you're talking about." He said coldly.

"Riku-" Mickey started, but suddenly there was a slight distraction as a giant gloved hand plucked the mouse right up.

"What the-" Roxas said and cursed as a giant hand seized him too. There was a violent reversal of floor and ceiling as he was dangled upside-down; behind him he could hear Riku saying, "Let go, you stupid thing, I can get off the ship by myself…"

The large white hands didn't listen, however, and the three of them were carried over to the dock. The blood was rushing to Roxas' head as he stared in front of him to where Mickey was dangled, looking troubled but apparently quite at ease with the giant hands.

A few seconds more, and they were dropped unceremoniously to the ground, crumpled in a sort of messy dog pile.

Well, that had certainly helped the awkwardness of the situation…

"Sorry about that." Mickey said, pulling himself out of the tangle and brushing himself off. "The hands'll react if you take too long to get off the ship."

Seeing brightly colored dots before his eyes, Roxas dizzily got to his feet. If this day kept going like it was, he was going to get a massive headache very soon.

Muttering curses to himself, Riku got up from the floor with as much dignity as he could muster. Roxas turned to say something to him- but stopped. Riku's hood had fallen down. Blue eyes met orange.

Riku and Roxas looked at each other with similar horrified expressions. Seeing Roxas' dawning comprehension and feeling very exposed, Riku hastily pulled his hood back up and fled away from the gummi hanger without another word.

"Wait-" Roxas started, but he was long gone. Stunned, Roxas turned to Mickey. "Was that…was that really…Riku?"

Mickey gave a heavy sigh, but nodded. There was no point in denying it now.

"But what happened to him?" Roxas said faintly. "He looks like…like…"

"Ansem, yup." Mickey said gloomily. "Or the imposter Ansem, rather."

"What?"

"I'll explain later." Mickey said, walking up the stairs to the crown-shaped exit. "Right now I've gotta take you to meet everyone here, and then I've got to go find Riku."

"So what's his deal anyway?" Roxas said. His anger with Riku had dissolved into curiosity and confusion. "What happened to him?"

"It would be very disrespectful of me to tell you." Mickey said firmly.

Roxas fell silent until they stepped out into the castle's garden. That's when all his questions were driven temporarily from his mind.

The garden was a burst of vibrant color, vivid green most prominent, but cheery flowers in blue and yellow were there too. The hedges were trimmed into fabulous, larger-than-life figures, and the castle's pristine walls rose up imposingly, curved towers touching the sky. Roxas had ever seen anything like it before. Not only was everything here blooming with color, the colors were somehow cleaner, brighter, and more alive than he'd ever seen colors look before.

Mickey stopped and turned when he noticed that Roxas was no longer beside him- he was drifting over close to the hedge archway, looking closely at a yellow flower with a puzzled frown on his face, as if he couldn't quite think of what to make of it. Mickey chuckled at the boy's amazement.

"You only have memories of worlds of Twilight, Roxas." He said gently. "This is the Realm of Light."

Roxas jumped and looked slightly embarrassed that his attention had wandered so easily.

"Sorry." He mumbled and followed Mickey into the castle, still being unable to refrain from at least twisting his head this way and that looking around at everything. The carpet in the hall was richly red, and as they walked along, several brooms strutted past. Roxas stared avidly at them and unconsciously moved closer to Mickey, as if they might attack. So far everything about this castle seemed…bizarre. Then again, he thought, it was all probably pretty natural on a world ruled by an overgrown, talking mouse.

They reached the end of the hallway, and Mickey opened the cheerfully yellow door to reveal a small, cozy library. A female mouse wearing a regal pink dress was sitting at a desk. When she looked up and saw them come in, she jumped up.

"You're back!" she cried in a voice that was just as squeaky as Mickey's, yet distinctly female. She greeted Mickey with a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Yup!" Mickey said happily. "And look who I've got with me!" he backed up and gestured Roxas closer. "This here is Roxas- you remember me telling you about him. Roxas, this is Minnie, my beautiful wife. She's been keeping things here running smoothly while I've been away. Who knows what kind of shape this castle would be in without her!"

"Er- nice to meet you." Roxas said awkwardly. He wasn't sure how to greet a mouse Queen.

"The pleasure's all mine." Minnie said warmly. She looked behind them at the open door and the empty hallway beyond. "But where is Riku? There was an old album on the top shelf I wanted him to get for me…"

"He's here somewhere." Mickey glanced at Roxas. "Later we're going to have a meeting to discuss our next move, and fill Roxas in on what we already know. That is, if you want to?" he added to Roxas.

"I want to know what's going on." Roxas said quickly. "I just can't guarantee that I'll help."

"That's fine." Mickey assured him. "And in the meantime, I think I'll double-check to see if anything happened to follow our trail. Traveling through normal space up until we skipped through the barrier around my world slowed us down a bit. The  _Pluto_ is not equipped to warp through normal space."

"How much time  _has_  it been?" Roxas asked, surprised.

"A good ten hours. You slept through most of it."

"I guess…so." Roxas said. It made sense, he figured. He  _had_  been extremely tired…and in space it was almost impossible to determine time without a clock.

"Right." Mickey said. "You just feel free to explore the castle. Someone will come find you once it's time."

"Er- not one of the brooms, right?" Roxas said uneasily.

Mickey laughed and Minnie giggled, but Roxas honestly could not see what was funny. It just wasn't natural for brooms to be walking around of their own free will. The thought of them creeping all over the castle, shuffling around behind his back, was downright creepy.

"No, not a broom." Mickey said. "They just keep the castle clean for us. One of us will find you."

"But…"

"Don't worry." Minnie said. "The kitchens are below if you get hungry, and there are rooms upstairs. If you think you're lost, just look outside and find the garden you walked through. There are many gardens here, but that one is unique, and it should set you back on the right track."

"Okay." Roxas said. He was actually interested in seeing more of the castle, especially knowing that soon Mickey was finally going to tell him exactly what's been happening. He was also starting to get the faint impression, from the way that they were standing there politely smiling at him, that Mickey and Minnie wanted to talk alone. "Yeah. See you later." He nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Looking around the colonnade and out into the garden, nothing he saw triggered a vague feeling of déjà vu. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before- and somehow that made him like the place instantly. He gave a faint smile before walking away.

* * *

There was a silence in the library for a moment as the very tone of the air seemed to become more serious.

"I'm guessing that something has happened." Minnie said softly.

Mickey sighed and nodded. "Sora's been captured by Organization XIII."

"What?" Minnie gasped. "But I thought we all agreed that he was safe with DiZ, why, even Riku…Riku." She said quietly, realizing how hard Riku must be taking this.

"It was a trap." Mickey said grimly. "They lured attention away from Sora by kidnapping Naminé. It was too late by the time DiZ realized it…all we could do was take Roxas and leave before they got him too. So now they've got Sora  _and_ Naminé, and we don't know where. And not only that…" he crossed his arms and frowned, "but Roxas saw Riku unmasked. I've gotta go find Riku and talk to him about it, if I can."

Minnie happened to be fiercely protective of Riku, having kept him in the castle several times.

"I've told him over and over." She said angrily. "He shouldn't be ashamed! He did something for his friend, and I can't possibly imagine Sora ever shunning Riku just because of the way he looks!"

"There's more to it, Minnie." Mickey said gently. "Capturing Roxas for DiZ wasn't something he really wanted to do. But he was determined to do it. So determined that he turned to darkness just to help Sora, and now Sora's gone, and Roxas doesn't even remember the reason why he's like that. There are lots of complications when it comes to those two."

"So what are we going to do about Roxas?" Minnie asked sadly.

"I don't know. For now I told him that he should think about what he wants to do- and, from there, follow his own path. Whether we meet on that path as friends or enemies is up to him."

Minnie touched his arm. "Don't worry, Mickey." She said softly. "We'll make him see that our way is right. If he understands what's at stake, he'll realize that we just want what's best. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, you're right." Mickey smiled, his natural optimism kicking in. He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Golly, I hafta go get Chip and Dale's report. Get everyone to go to the meeting room in an hour."

Minnie nodded. "And you're going to look for Riku?"

"Maybe, or maybe not- you know how he is. He'd probably rather come out himself or not at all. If you see him…"

"Sure." Minnie said gently. "Now, go on."

"Thank you." Mickey grasped her hands briefly before striding off to the hangar.

Minnie watched him go with a worried expression on her face. She closed the door behind him before sitting at her desk, where a small leather-bound book lay. She opened the book, stared at it for a long time as if contemplating, then bent over it and began to write.


	5. The Dark Reverie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Riku captures Roxas by using the power of darkness, he does so because he lost the first fight with Roxas and he wanted to make sure he won the second time. The fight Roxas remembers in this chapter is the first one, and I just made it up since (as of yet) that scene doesn't get shown in the game. [Note: that statement is old, but I don't know if it's still true or not.]

_Dear Journal,_

_Mickey and Riku arrived a short while ago- sooner than I had expected. It wasn't because of any good news, though. Mickey came in bringing a boy called Roxas with him. That's right- Sora's Nobody. Mickey always said that he hadn't wanted to interfere too much with Riku and DiZ's plan to restore Sora's memories, because he never wanted to meet Roxas. Remember that letter? He said that he'd dealt with Nobodies before, and- despite the fact that they don't have hearts- it was very hard not to think of them as regular people. I hadn't really believed him at the time. I couldn't imagine how someone without a heart could seem normal- especially normal enough that you couldn't tell. I think I understand a little better now. If I didn't know who Roxas was, it never would have occurred to me when I met him that he was a Nobody. He actually seemed pretty shy around me, and he carried all the uncertainty you would expect of someone who had just been taken from his world. Does the unusual way he came into being have anything to do with it, I wonder? I'll have to ask Mickey._

_Roxas is here to keep him away from Organization XIII. They've captured Sora and Naminé, and all they need is Roxas to complete the puzzle. I'm so worried about Sora- there's no telling what the Organization will do to him. Just keeping him away from his mission is bad enough, but I'm afraid they won't stop there. They could make him forget who he is; even turn him against everyone he loves. I don't think any one of us likes the idea of having to fight him anytime in the future._

_This situation is critical._

_We're hoping that Roxas will be able to help us. But I fear there will never be a way that he and Riku can work successfully together. Roxas saw Riku's unveiled face, and now Riku is off in the castle somewhere. There's no telling what's going through his mind right now. I'm sure he's taken extreme care this whole time to ensure that Roxas never saw him as he is now, lest he pass the memory to Sora later on. What now? I am sure he hasn't given up on rejoining Roxas and Sora yet. Will the fact that Roxas has seen his secret change anything?_

_I can only hope that this all works out somehow._

Minnie sighed, and closed the book with a sad look in her eyes.

* * *

Naminé stood trembling and alone on the floor of the massive room of thrones, right in the center of where the Nobody insignia was inscribed. She felt as if she was on trial, her menacing judges raised high above her and peering down from deep within their black hoods. Only two had their hoods pushed back- Xemnas, who sat regally in front of where Naminé stood- and Axel, who had his arms crossed over his chest in a slumped position, a grim look on his face.

"Naminé. How very nice to see you." Xemnas said, and her head snapped up to look at him. "I hear that you were rather reluctant to join forces with your fellow Nobodies again."

"Wouldn't you be?" she said before she could stop herself.

"Look, our little bird has grown a backbone." Saïx commented patronizingly.

"It doesn't matter." Xemnas stared down at Naminé. "Not as long as she doesn't let it get in the way of following orders. I would say that we have enough reasons to persuade her, wouldn't you agree?"

"Why?" Naminé raised her voice. "I don't care what you do to me, and you need Sora. You won't do anything to him."

"True, we need Sora." Xemnas leaned back on his throne and crossed his legs. "But we need him as one to help us as he stays away from our enemies. Otherwise, he is useless. There are other Keybearers out there who do our bidding unwittingly. Though they may be slower and less reliable, if need be,  _they_ will suffice. Now then," he said before he could be interrupted again, "time for the matter at hand. Xigbar has already told you what to do first. Correct?"

"Yes, but-"

"Good. Then listen carefully to what you must do next." Xemnas touched the tips of his fingers together and gave a satisfied smile. "Nothing."

There was an odd lapse as everyone present waited for him to finish talking. Then the room seemed to stir.

"Nothing?" Naminé said, confused.

"Yes." Xemnas said. "There will be no memories for you to fabricate. There are simply a few things that you will allow him to remember. Listen closely."

His command seemed rather pointless, for everyone there was already listening extremely closely, trying to get some glimmer of an idea of what in the world Xemnas was up to.

"He is to remember all Heartless- including mine. His own name. The Keyblade." He uncrossed his legs and sat up straighter. "And as a reward for your cooperation, he can also recognize whoever you want him to- you, the Organization, his friends- anyone. But he can have no memories to correspond with what he finds familiar. That is all." He said simply. He waved his hand. "Axel, escort her back to her cell, please."

Axel stared at him but nodded; and before Naminé could think or move or say anything, she found herself being taken by the arm, though far less aggressively than Xigbar had done.

A moment later, they were standing inside the cell. Naminé half-expected Axel to stay in his strangely silent mood and leave right away, but he didn't. Instead, he walked over to the desk.

"Long time no see, huh?" he said quietly, picking up Naminé's sketchbook and flipping through its blank pages. "Empty. Artist's block?"

Naminé watched Axel apprehensively, not sure what to say. She had never managed to get a measure of the fiery redhead, and she couldn't tell if what he said meant that he was planning on reporting her for not following commands. Axel had helped her escape last time. Surely he could help now? But what he did before had just been to thwart the traitors, she reminded herself. He was only helping the Organization back then. For all she knew, it could have even been on Xemnas' orders!

"Axel…"

He glanced at her, then put the sketchbook down.

"Something's not right." He said carefully in a soft voice. "You'd better just do as they say until I figure out what that is." He gave a quick glance around the room, pausing for the smallest fraction of a second on Sora's prone form, and then he vanished. Naminé was left standing with a deep frown on her face.

* * *

Roxas picked a room on the floor above the audience chamber- he figured that he would be less likely to get lost that way. The castle was incredible. Red-carpeted hallways seemed to stretch on for miles, lined with paintings and statues and potted plants. As Minnie had said, there were many gardens surrounding the outside, but there were some inside as well; grand greenhouses with flowered vines hanging from the walls and birds chirping from behind the leaves. One was filled with exotic butterflies, the air sweet with the perfume of their preferred types of flowers. He'd passed a massive spiral staircase, a vast swimming pool, and all the while he kept marveling that a place inhabited by such small creatures could be so outlandishly  _huge._

Although curiosity tugged at him to go and explore the upper levels of the castle, he didn't want to stray too far. Instead, once he got his fill of the second floor, he decided to take Queen Minnie's advice and go down to the kitchens on the first basement level.

The kitchens were just like the rest of the castle- big and impressive. Roxas was certain it must take up most of the level, if not all. First there was an elaborate dining room with a high ceiling and spectacular chandelier. Swinging doors in the back of the room led to a wide expanse of stainless steel surfaces; pots and pans, counters, shelves, freezers, and stoves. He could smell the distant lingering aroma of something delicious cooking.

"Lost, dear?"

Roxas jumped and whirled around, instantly wary. A pair of large brown eyes peered at him from behind a stainless steel counter. The woman standing there was portly, and her face suggested something like an animate, bipedal talking cow. Curly hair was kept neatly between her two small horns by a hair net, and her wire-rimmed spectacles enhanced the look of a kindly cafeteria lady.

"Um…" Roxas wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't thought of finding other people here in the castle- though, it made perfect sense. Two mice couldn't inhabit and maintain such a big place all on their own. And they were royalty, too, so it was obvious that they would have other servants besides the enchanted brooms.

"Are you the…chef?" Roxas guessed by the woman's apron and the spatula in her hand.

"I surely am!" she said with a happy nod. "Name's Betty. And who might you be?" she tilted her head curiously. "You're not from this world…"

"What…how did you know?" Roxas was taken aback.

Betty chuckled. "You're one of them strange critters, right? What'd Mickey call 'em… human? Like dear Riku. Hate to say it, but there ain't much in the way of your kind here. I take it you're the King's guest? Just let me know if you ever need anything, then." She gave another nod.

"Okay…thanks." Roxas said. He left the kitchens with the distinct feeling that his life had reached some new level of oddity. Yet it wasn't a bad thing. Roxas could see how Riku had come to grow attached to this place- as could clearly be seen by the fond way the castle's inhabitants talked about him. Roxas had never seen a place so full of cheery light. Was this how all the worlds had been before darkness separated them all?

Roxas stopped walking.

"The worlds used to be one." He muttered. "Darkness split them up. Something about children…"

He tried to pull the memory out of the depths of his mind- but everything became confused and he had to stop. Roxas sighed. Lately he tried to hold on tight to any memory that drifted by. The more he remembered, the more he would be able to know what was going on. Roxas despised being out of the loop about anything- if there was one thing he knew too well, it was that the ignorant get used. Often he would find that he knew things, with certainty, but not  _how_  he knew. Just as he knew that few worlds possessed the light Disney Castle had.

Realizing that he probably looked odd standing there suspended on the stairs up to the first floor, Roxas resumed walking. The thought of Riku had set a different set of gears in his mind turning.

Ansem was the guy that had taken over Riku before- the one they fought and beat. That was a memory that was very clear in his mind. What about after that, though? The details were fuzzy. Could Riku still be possessed by him somehow? But how could that be, when he still seemed to be Riku on the inside? And it had been Riku hanging around in Twilight Town, all along…

 _Well, it makes sense._ Roxas reasoned.  _Of course he'd help Sora. He wanted to make up for all the stuff he did before._

Suddenly, a sharp, blinding pain attacked his mind, washing his vision white. Roxas cried out and clutched his head. This had happened only once before, in the White Room with Naminé. Another memory was making itself known, this time as realistic as if he was living it again.

* * *

_The dim glow of the heart-shaped moon did little to illuminate the desolate world beneath it. Darkness clung to the vast buildings like the webs of ghostly spiders. A world devoid of cheer, devoid of light. All nothingness. All nonexistent. It was appropriate for such a place to be known as The World That Never Was…it would never fully exist. Ever. And nothingness does not wield answers- it does not allow for anything but a mere charade of life…meaningless effort to achieve a meaningless goal. That was why he had to leave. He was tired of following some else's method of existence._

"… _Your mind's made up?"_

_Roxas stopped. He wished that there was a way that he could make his friend understand. Axel's stubbornness was creating a tension between them that he did not need right now. Why did it have to come down to a contest of who could be the most obstinate?_

" _Why did the Keyblade choose me? I have to know," Roxas said in a quiet but still clipped tone._

" _You can't turn on the Organization!"_

* * *

_No happiness had ever touched this place. No ray of light had ever pierced through its dark clouds to shine down on the city that wept almost perpetually. The darkness and silence was akin to a tomb, or the bottom of a vast and cold ocean. All that could be heard was the patter of rain, the occasional splash of disturbed puddles under black booted feet, and, more prominently, the loud clang of metal against metal paired with the breathing and cries of two people engaged in furious battle._

_One was blindfolded. The other's face was completely concealed beneath a dark hood._

_The blindfolded one was thrown back, and he hit the ground hard, knocking the air from his lungs and plowing him squelchily into the mud. He sat up to face the adversary standing over him._

" _Who are you?" he demanded._

_Silence. Dead silence._

_And then, a soft laugh._

" _Nobody."_

_The rain's voice whispered and hissed like a phantom in the dark alley that was lit only by the faintest glow._

_Riku stood up painfully and slowly. It felt like he'd been in this cold, dark world for hours dueling this cloaked person- he didn't even know if he was the right one. He'd been fighting and questioning, trying to learn his opponent's identity- and he hadn't gotten a word out of him until now._

" _What is your name?" he tried again, trying to not lean too much on Soul Eater. The effort of fighting so close to the Dark Realm was eating away at his energy, but it was a weakness that he couldn't afford to show._

_The dark form's only response was to walk closer in a slow, almost predatory way._

Roxas could see it all. He knew he was the one walking toward Riku, and he couldn't stop it. He was looking through the eyes of his memory.

_Riku moved faster than Roxas had thought possible after the long and hard battle. He lunged at Roxas, slashing with a desperate strength- and this time, it was Roxas' turn to taste the ground._

_Riku sank to one knee, breathing hard. That attack had cost him a lot of energy, but he knew he had to get up soon or lose the upper hand. Forcing himself to his feet, Riku stumbled over to where Roxas was splayed out on the ground, Oathkeeper and Oblivion held loosely in each of his hands. The fact that they remained meant he was still conscious. However, Riku was more than willing to remedy that. He raised Soul Eater high._

" _Is your name Roxas? How is it possible for you to use the Keyblade?"_

_No answer._

" _I'm giving you a chance to answer me!" Riku said angrily._

_Deep within his hood, Roxas smiled._

_Riku had no other choice. He took Soul Eater with both hands and sent it rushing down at Roxas with his trademark speed._

_The resulting crash resonated around Alley to Between and echoed back from the onlooking walls. Soul Eater's tip was wedged inside the open center of Oathkeeper, quivering inches above the place where Roxas' heart would be. Roxas was holding the blade back with both hands on Oathkeeper, keeping Riku's blade perfectly still but at a definite disadvantage. Already his arms were beginning to shake from the effort._

_Riku frowned and grasped the handle of Soul Eater with both hands. "Give up. You can't win. My orders are to bring you alive, and I don't want to have to hurt you."_

_Trapped in a standstill, Riku glimpsed his target's face. It was but the barest outline, caught in the pale artificial light, but it was enough to see the wolfish smile._

" _Clear Light._ _"_

_Riku paused. "What?"_

_His instincts didn't warn him fast enough. Roxas twisted Oathkeeper, ripping Soul Eater from Riku's grasp and summoning Oblivion again in a flash. What happened next was so quick he couldn't even comprehend it until afterward- Roxas kicked him in the gut, jumped forward, and pinned him down with the Keyblades crossed over Riku's chest. A sudden bright light came from underneath, enveloping them both in a blinding sphere of energy._

_Riku didn't think he'd ever felt pain like this before. He could feel the light all around him, burning around him, burning_ _**through** _ _him. It came from everywhere, setting his bones on fire, burning his heart that was still weakened by darkness._

_It was too bright._

_Through the blaze, he could see a face above him, a strikingly familiar, harshly illuminated face._

" _No…"_

* * *

_He didn't even notice his blindfold had gone, disintegrating into the light. The light had burned away his lie._

Roxas' vision was coming back into focus. He was breathing heavily as if he had really just been in a furious battle. He was struggling to comprehend what he had just seen.

 _Was that really…me?_ He thought as he stumbled into the colonnade.

It had certainly seemed like it, but Roxas had never found a memory that he felt so detached from as that one. That other Roxas was a stranger to him. He could never imagine being so cold, brutal, uncaring. Recognizing Riku had come so natural to him before that it was equally hard to imagine not knowing him. True, they were far from being pals, but Roxas  _knew_  Riku. He could remember exploring the islands with him, sharing jokes, going to school. Despite their less-than-friendly standings at the moment, Roxas couldn't associate that violence with their relationship. It was…shocking, to see the coldness coming from someone who didn't just seem like him- it  _was_  him.

_How could that have been me? I can't do that, I can't fight like that…_

Roxas stared down at the red carpet beneath his feet as he walked slowly, piecing everything together.

_What was he doing there in the first place? He was just asking for trouble by coming to that world._

" _Will it work?"_

" _If we can maintain the simulated town until Naminé finishes chaining together Sora's memories."_

" _What will happen to Roxas?"_

 _DiZ needed me, but he couldn't do it himself._ Roxas thought, clenching his fists.  _So he got Riku to do his dirty work for him. And that's when…_

Warm sunlight touched his face softly and Roxas looked up to find that he had arrived at the Gummi Hangar's garden. What's more, a familiar black-coated figure was sitting against the hedge, hood back, looking up at the sky with his arms folded across his chest. Roxas walked over and sat beside him in the marginal shade the hedge provided.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." Riku said automatically.

There was a pause, and a long, reasonably uncomfortable silence.

"It's my fault, isn't it?"

Riku just shrugged. He really didn't want to be in this conversation.

Roxas watched as a yellow butterfly fluttered lazily across the path and landed on a patch of flowers the exact same color as its body. His lips twitched in a smile as an idea came to him.

"Yeah," he started with just the right amount of arrogance, "I think I remember the first time you came for me- I completely kicked your ass."

The lighthearted approach worked. Riku dropped his cool indifference and looked at Roxas in surprise. He could sense the apology underneath and actually cracked a small smile himself.

"Right, and I suppose you conveniently forgot how badly I beat you the second time?"

"Nope. Can't remember."

"Hm." Riku snorted. He felt as if the weight on his heart was lessening despite himself. "What, then? You need a refresher?"

"What-? Uh, no thanks. I'm not that stupid."

Riku smirked.

"But it's not over yet." Roxas became more serious, looking out into the garden. "One day, I'm going to break the tie. Just as soon as I can catch back up to you in skill."

"Good. Right now you barely know which end of the Keyblade goes up."

Roxas gave a mock glare, but in truth, he was glad- whether it was an artificial emotion or not- he was glad that Riku did not seem to blame him for what he had become. If anything, he had probably been pleased to face such a challenging opponent.

"Hey, Roxas." Riku said suddenly.

"What?"

"If you could turn back time, take everything back…everything about the Keyblade and DiZ and Sora, the Organization, all that- if you could live back in Twilight Town with your friends… would you?"

Roxas looked at him for a moment as if reading his intentions. Then he sighed and picked up a twig, breaking it apart piece by piece.

"If I said no…" Roxas began slowly, "That would be a lie."

"So you would? You'd forget all this just to remain with your friends?"

"I guess so." Riku crossed his arms behind his head and gazed up into the sky once again.

"Well, what do you know." Riku mumbled. "You really are like him after all."

Roxas gave him a questioning look.

"There you all are!" they heard Mickey's voice exclaim with a happy laugh. The little king was striding toward them, positively beaming. "Welp, you two ready for the meeting?"

"Yeah." Roxas jumped up. Riku nodded and stood up as well. Together they walked with Mickey back into the castle.


	6. Key

**key:**

_\- noun_

a small metal instrument specifically cut to fit into a lock and move its bolt

any of various devices resembling or functioning as a key:  _the key of a clock._

something that affords a means of access:  _the key to happiness._

something that affords a means of clarifying a problem.

_\- adjective_

chief; major; important; essential; fundamental; pivotal:  _a key person in the company; key industries._

vital, most important:  _the key to survival._

* * *

The meeting room was just as extraordinarily large and fantastic as the rest of the castle. A polished wooden table sat in the middle of the room, right below a grand chandelier that cast everything in a soft, warm glow. The wall opposite the door was made of glass- a gigantic aquarium where brightly colored fish of every variety imaginable flitted about. There were all sorts of maps and charts pinned up on the other walls- a world map detailed lands completely unfamiliar to Roxas.

"Welp, I guess we can start now that everyone's here." Mickey said, bringing Roxas' attention back down to the group assembled around the heavy oval table. "But first- Roxas, this is Daisy." He motioned to the female duck on his left. "She is here to represent Donald in his absence."

"Nice to meet you." Daisy said in a perfectly friendly voice, but Roxas could see the sadness and worry behind her eyes, and he felt strange knowing that it was at least in some part because of him- because of the Organization's attack on Twilight Town.

"And the man beside you is-"

"Name's Hudson." The feline beside Roxas shook his hand firmly. "But you can call me Hoppy or just Hop- 'bout everyone else does."

Hop was a contrast from the royal and dignified Daisy. He wore a blue bandana on his head and had multiple piercings in his feline ears. He was obviously a bit younger than the others, perhaps in his late teens, and his slender but muscular build suggested long hours of manual labor.

"Hop is second-in-command of the Guard here at the castle." Mickey added cheerfully. "He's here to represent Goofy."

Minnie noticed Roxas' confused expression and quickly explained, "It's a rule that if someone cannot be present then there must be someone else there to represent them in order to look at their interests and uphold their wishes. Donald and Goofy each hold the highest positions in their respective divisions- so they hold a permanent place in all meetings.

"It's been a long time since they've been able to appear in person." Daisy added. She was looking down at her hands folded in her lap.

"Alright then, explanations and introductions out of the way," Riku interjected. His hood was down. "You were hinting about a way to find the Nobodies' world?"

Mickey smiled. "Alright Riku, in due time."

Mickey laid a brown folder on the table and slid it at Roxas. "Copies of the original Ansem Reports. I think it could benefit you to study them. It will help you understand things a little better, and maybe you could even see something in it that we can't."

Roxas slowly took the folder. "Are you sure you want to let me in to your plans like this?"

"It's better for you to know what's going on so you can make your own mind up about it."

Roxas nodded once. "Okay, I will."

"Now then," Mickey continued, clasping his hands together on the table professionally, "All of ya know that I knew Ansem some years ago- we talked about lots of things, the connection between the hearts of people and the hearts of worlds most of all. The Ansem I knew was concerned with the world he ruled over- and even though I can't deny that scientific curiosity played a part in it, for the most part, Ansem's interest in experimenting with hearts was for the betterment and protection of his world."

Mickey reached into his pocket and pulled out an old and tattered-looking envelope.

"It's a little thought that's been nagging at me for a long time." He continued. "The last time I saw Ansem, he seemed ready to quit his experiments for fear of upsetting the balance of the worlds and the lives of all the people. Yet later, when he reappeared, he was prepared to cause any amount of chaos to reach Kingdom Hearts. I always had trouble believing that the man I knew would do that. He was always very dedicated to his homeland."

"It doesn't matter who he  _was_. The darkness can change anyone." Riku said flatly.

"I know, Riku." Mickey said gently. He made no pretense that he didn't know exactly what Riku was talking about- he knew him well enough to talk to him plainly, even lecture on occasion if need be. "But even when engulfed in darkness, a glimmer of the person's true nature will always remain. What you strived for never changed. You still wanted to protect Kairi."

Riku crossed his arms but did not reply.

"If I am right in thinking that Ansem's highest priority was his position as a leader and the duties that came with it…" Mickey went on, "then it's safe to assume that the darkness would have affected him differently. He mighta become a tyrant, seeking to make his world stronger, prouder. He was a very proud man."

"I see." Minnie said. "Even in the darkness, a person's goals and strongest desires will stay the same."

"Right." Mickey nodded. "The Ansem Sora fought was obsessed with finding the ultimate darkness. That Ansem was concerned wholly with research- with stretching his limits, searching for something. So then, we gotta figure that either he did not care for his world as much as it seemed…or…" he pulled a leaf of paper from the envelope and unfolded, "the two Ansems were, in fact, two different people."

"What is this?" Riku asked as Mickey passed the paper to him. The paper looked as worn as the envelope, and the only heading it had was a large, elaborate number 2. it was covered in tiny, curled writing.

"Read it out." Mickey encouraged.

Riku glanced at Mickey questioningly but soon his eyes flickered back to the paper and he obeyed, reading it aloud with his deep, rumbling voice.

" _I have made a grave mistake._

_My study of the "darkness of the heart" began with a simple psychological test and quickly snowballed._

_Spurred on by my youngest apprentice Ienzo, I constructed a massive laboratory in the basement of my castle._

_Unbeknownst to me, my six apprentices then began collecting a large number of subjects on which to perform dangerous experiments into the "darkness of the heart."_

_As soon as I found out, I called my apprentices together and ordered them not only to cease their studies, but to destroy the results of their research thus far._

_What on earth was happening within the hearts of my six beloved apprentices? While pursuing the mystery of the darkness of the heart, could they themselves have strayed into its depths?_

_Yet I remain the most foolish of all, for having begun these experiments._

_We are not meant to interfere in the depths of another's heart, no matter what our reasons for doing so…_

_And my error plunged me into despair._

_A visitor from another world soothed my dejected soul._

_A tiny king named Mickey came wielding a legendary key—the infamous "Keyblade," said to bring both chaos and prosperity to the world._

_He was very knowledgeable on many topics, and we deepened our friendship as we conversed companionably._

_Upon his advice, I decided to review the data obtained at my basement lab._

_That is when I discovered the "Ansem Reports."_

_Though they bore my name, the only one I had written was number 0._

_Apparently he had gone on to pen numbers 1 through 8 himself._

_Yes—the first subject in my foolish experiments."_

Riku's voice trailed off and the room was silent for a long moment.

"As you can see, this report supports my idea- actually, it confirms it." Mickey said.  _"This_  sounds like the Ansem I knew. He found the same reports I gave to Roxas and realized that someone had impersonated him. From this I gather he had known his imposter, too."

"Wait a second, we went through all that crap- everyone nearly dying, Sora losing his heart, getting locked in the realm of darkness- all because of some guy that wasn't even the real Ansem?" Riku said angrily.

"Yep." Mickey replied seriously. "But he was still very dangerous, and he needed to be stopped. Not many people can keep their original form as a Heartless. The important thing is, Ansem the Wise- the  _real_  Ansem- is probably still alive somewhere. He disappeared when Hollow Bastion fell into darkness, but I'm certain he made it out with Leon and the others. He had a very strong heart. He would not only know the true identity of his imposter, but the Organization's plans and where to find their world, too."

"So…" Hop said thoughtfully, rubbing his scruffy chin, "if this imposter Ansem was strong enough to keep his form as a Heartless, wouldn' he be almost guaranteed to have a Nobody along with all that?"

"Xemnas." Roxas said unexpectedly.

Everyone turned their heads to look at him.

"Is he the leader of Organization XIII?" Mickey asked, watching him closely.

"I…think so." Roxas scratched his head bemusedly, slightly regretting speaking up at all.

Riku rolled his eyes. "You  _think_  so."

"I've never been able to remember it before now." Roxas defended. "The name just popped into my head."

"Well then, it's probably right!" Mickey said cheerfully. "I didn't know his name, but I was pretty sure the imposter's Nobody was the leader of Organization XIII. I've seen him before, and they look awful similar."

"So, how do we go about finding the  _real_ Ansem?" Riku said. "He could be anywhere."

"Well…" Mickey frowned a little. "I asked Leon to keep an eye out for any more of these new Ansem reports as a start. I have the feeling that there are many more than this one, and they must be pretty recent if we have never encountered them before. The reports could lead us to where he is, or even give us the information we need without having to track him down."

"And in the meantime, we need to focus on the bigger problem." Hop said. "My concern is for the Captain."

"Donald and Goofy should still be in Twilight Town." Mickey said. "I don't think there'll be any trouble getting them out of there, but I can't say for sure. They're still inside of that computer program DiZ created, and there's no telling what state it's in now. If DiZ stayed there, it's likely that they could already be awake and waiting for us in the real Twilight Town. That's the best case scenario."

"And what's the worst?" Daisy asked in a stubborn tone of voice.

Mickey gave a weary sigh.

Riku answered for him. "It could be destroyed, especially if DiZ left and the Organization got a hold of it."

 _No!_ Roxas wanted to shout, but restrained himself. His caring for Twilight Town was still deeply imbedded, and he remembered all too well the state it was in when he'd left it- being torn apart at the seams by Xaldin.

The faces of the assembled reflected his feelings, though for far different reasons.

"We can't think like that." Mickey said strongly. "All it takes is a quick look to see if it still registers on the Gummi radar. The harder part," he added sadly, "is finding Sora."

"We know where he is, and who's got him." Riku said. "That simplifies it. We find the Organization, and we'll find him."

"Right." Mickey nodded. "If the Organization doesn't make a move soon, then the only thing we can do is search- the Ansem reports, Ansem himself, or the Organization's world- whichever we can find first."

"I don't understand why it would be so hard to find them." Daisy said. "Can't you just look for their world on the Gummi radar? Riku's been there twice already!" her eyes passed over Roxas but merely paused before continuing, "Surely between all of you you'd know it when you see it!"

"I know you're worried, Daisy- we all are too." Mickey said. "But there are countless worlds in the realm of Light alone and the Radar only identifies ones that we have visited before on that ship. It can show other worlds, but we'd have to visit every one just to see what's on it. The Organization is full of Nobodies, which means that they could be in Light, Twilight, or Darkness. There isn't even a guarantee that they haven't moved somewhere else after getting Sora- they know that we are familiar with their world. All we can really say is that they probably chose to remain close to Darkness…since that greatly reduces the number of people that can help us."

Riku had a very grim look on his face.

"Sora has never spent more than a few minutes in the Realm of Darkness. It's already been two days." He said.

There was a heavy silence.

"It'll be okay, Riku. His heart is strong." Minnie touched his arm comfortingly. "Remember what happened at Castle Oblivion?"

"Fortunately, I do." Riku said ironically. "The rebelling members of the Organization wanted to use Sora as a weapon against their leaders, until their ranks split even more and some of them wanted to use me instead. They attached him to Naminé knowing he would blindly throw himself at any enemy to protect her without even stopping to think about the inconsistencies. Their plan failed, but only because of their own stupid infighting. The truth is, they had him dancing in the palm of their hand."

"I don't remember anything about that." Roxas said, astonished. "I mean, I know I don't remember much, but that sounds like a big thing. Did that really happen? They've tried this exact plan before?"

"I didn't know about it either. How did you not think to guard against something they already tried once?" Daisy said, upset.

"Now, don't go accusing-" Hop started.

"Wait." Mickey said. "Roxas, the reason why ya don't remember is because you and Sora were already separated by then. It isn't a memory you share, and even if it was, that place has been wiped from Sora's memory for good, even if all this going on now hadn't happened. You were in the Organization then, and if you did know about the place, I doubt they would have let you in on what was going on there. As for the plan, I wasn't part of the group trying to restore Sora, but I know DiZ, Riku, and Naminé did their best."

"No." Riku said. "Daisy is right. We should have thought of it, no matter how unlikely it seemed to us. We just never even consciously considered the possibility. I mean, it's a very risky plan for them. The only people I can think of  _them_  using Sora against is us, and as proven at Castle Oblivion, getting him to that point takes a long time even with Naminé's help. For that matter, why bother with Sora at all if they need a Keyblade wielder on their side? They could have used Roxas. He has real, natural memories of being with the Organization. It would be easier for Naminé to make him believe he had to fight for them."

"Thanks." Roxas said sarcastically. "They tried to get all three of us, in case you forgot. That's why I'm here, right?"

"King Mickey!"

Chip and Dale ran into the meeting room, gasping for breath.

"What's the matter?" Mickey stood up from his chair.

"There's a message from Leon!"

"He says they found something!"

"You need to get to Hollow Bastion right away!"

Without hesitation, Riku stood up as well. "Could it be a lead on the real Ansem?"

"Let's hope so." Mickey said. "Come on. We can tell them about the situation with Sora when we get there." he clasped Minnie's hands. "I'll let you know what happens."

"You be careful, Mickey Mouse." Minnie said worriedly. "I have a bad feeling about this whole business with Ansem the Wise disappearing."

Mickey turned to face Roxas. "Roxas, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here until we know if you're still being chased. If they're tracking the ship, we might be ambushed when we go into open space. Don't worry," he added when Minnie grabbed his hands again, "It won't be a surprise. Ha ha!"

The idea of confronting the Organization again this soon did not appeal to him. "Okay. I'll look over those Reports."

"Do. Come on, Riku." They left, striding purposefully behind Chip and Dale.

"Well..." Hop leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "This whole thing feels like a few sleepless nights. Mhm."

"Shall we consider this meeting adjourned?" Minnie asked.

"If they find out where Ansem the Wise is, they could find where Sora is." Daisy said. "That part of it would be done with. Once the boys are done with the launch, I'm going to see if they can figure out the status of the computerized Twilight Town."

"Okay then." Minnie said gently. "Hop, can you make sure that your men are on post tonight?"

"Sure thing, ma'am." Hop stood and saluted. "I'll even make sure they keep post with their eyes open tonight."

Roxas looked at the folder in his hand.

"I guess I'll be in my room if anyone needs me." he said.

* * *

_I should probably look over those sketches again as well as the Reports._ Roxas mused as he walked through the red-carpeted hall. That thought, however, was almost immediately contradicted when he remembered that he'd left it in his room onboard the Ship.

 _I'll just try to remember it when they come back, then,_ he decided, but somehow he still felt a small twinge of anxiety. He didn't want Riku and the others finding it for some reason. He didn't know if they knew about him having it…but however the sketchbook had found its way to him, he felt that it was something that had been meant for him alone. Not as Sora's Nobody. For him- Roxas.

There was a rustling sound as a small piece of paper fluttered from the folder and drifted lazily down to the floor. Roxas gave a slightly agitated growl and bent down to pick it up. When he stood up again, his movements became slow and distracted as he looked at what had fallen out.

This paper was smaller than the others, scribbled in different handwriting and ink. It obviously had not been paper-clipped together with the rest of the reports, either- it was if someone had hastily stuck it in. The words upon it were clustered together in stanzas, like a poem, though he had never seen anything that was less like a poem. It read:

 

 

 

_Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts,_

_Ravage all worlds and bring desolation._

_Seize all hearts and consummate the greatest heart._

_All hearts to be one,_

_One heart to encompass all._

_Realize the destiny:_

_The realm of Kingdom Hearts._

_The great darkness sealed_

_Within the great heart._

_Progeny of darkness, come_

_Back to the eternal darkness_

_For the heart of light_

_Shall unseal the path._

_Seven hearts, one Keyhole,_

_One key to the door._

_The door of darkness,_

_Tied by two keys._

_The door of darkness to seal the light._

_None shall pass but shadows,_

_Returning to the darkness._

_Ones born of the heart_

_And darkness, hunger_

_For every heart until_

_The dark door opens._

Roxas felt a cold chill sweep across his arms as if the temperature had suddenly dropped several degrees.

He was being watched- he could feel it.

Roxas whirled around, eyes darting warily up and down the pristine white corridor.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Who's there?" he called out cautiously.

Still nothing.

Forcing himself to move, Roxas continued walking toward his room. He slipped the paper back into the folder, trying to look as casual as possible.

When he got to his room, however, he couldn't help but stop dead still at the door as he saw Naminé's sketches resting in the center of his large four-poster bed.


	7. Attack At Midnight

"Hollow Bastion was Ansem the Wise's home world. We can only hope he left behind plenty of clues about his old students." Mickey said.

Riku tried not to think about his last visit to Hollow Bastion. Even if he hadn't been busy the last year working for DiZ, he would have avoided the place. He'd agreed to come along right away because of the potential knowledge on Ansem the Wise, without thinking about where they were going.

"I wonder if they will be happy to see me," he said lightly, "considering the last time we met I was doing my best to destroy their world."

Mickey shook his head sadly. "They know how you're not like that anymore, Riku. They've heard about how hard you've worked to try to revive Sora. As soon as their memories started coming back, Leon and Cid made contact with Disney Castle to get back up to speed. We've had correspondence ever since."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Riku said. "What's important now is finding Sora. A little bit of awkwardness can't keep me from that."

"Alright then." Mickey smiled. "Keep up that determination, Riku, and I just know we'll find him!"

 _Maybe…but how long will he have to stay in the darkness before that happens?_ Riku wondered grimly as he gripped the Gummi ship's controls.

* * *

A faceless figure was sitting at a desk, writing something by the soft glow of candlelight. Roxas couldn't see his face, but somehow he knew instinctively that this was Ansem.

The glow seemed to fade in and out, hazily obscuring vision as well as reality.

Ansem finished writing and gathered his papers, looking over them as if to review their contents. He read each of them aloud in a voice that was as vague and hazy as everything else, only the occasional phrase making its way into Roxas' foggy consciousness.

" _Are they the people who lost their hearts, or incarnations of darkness? Or something entirely beyond my imagination?"_

" _It's just occurred to me: could they be the darkness in people's hearts?"_

" _The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says that he brought chaos and ruin upon it. I must know what this Keyblade is."_

" _Cast off by the heart, a mere shell, one who begrudges both the darkness and the light."_

" _Therefore I shall call them… 'the non-existent ones.'"_

"Hey!" Roxas tried to shout, to get the man's attention, but his voice was lost in the murky light and thick air. He blinked and shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind.

The candle flickered out and the world was eagerly swallowed by chilling darkness.

Roxas walked over to the hooded figure sitting on a rock nearby. The air was cooler here, sharp and refreshing. The sea whooshed back and forth in its perfect melody.

"I've been to see him." The man's deep voice continued. "He looks a lot like you."

"Who are you?" Roxas said, a little angrier than usual. How many times had he asked this question and received no answer?

"You already know."

Roxas frowned.

"Traitor."

Roxas clenched his fists and flew at the man. He'd tear off the hood and remember. He'd take the answer for himself, and-

The hooded man vanished as Roxas tried to grab him. Roxas' cry of rage was cut short as the ground beneath him opened up and he fell into an icy black abyss.

He landed hard on a dry, flat surface and the air fled from his lungs. Coughing a little, Roxas tentatively stood up and looked around.

Here the darkness was absolute. He could instinctively feel the vastness of this cold, dry realm, but there wasn't a single particle of light to illuminate the surroundings.

This, too, felt incredibly sharp and clear. Was he even still dreaming at all?

"What's going on?" a vague voice asked dazedly from nearby.

Roxas felt his throat contract painfully hard and he gave a barely stifled cry, "Sora!"

Sora's voice became confused. "Who's there? Why can't I see anything?" Roxas heard shuffling footsteps coming uncertainly closer.

Panic flooded him and he bolted without another word. He blindly ran across the flat surface of  _wherever_ the hell he was, uncaring if there was no end, concerned only with scaling as much distance as he could as quickly as possible.

His feet suddenly seemed to be sticking a little with each step, as if the soles of his shoes had melted on hot pavement. The feeling pulled stronger and stronger the longer he went, and eventually he dreaded what would happen if he stopped. It seemed like the floor was trying to pull him in. Roxas' legs grew tired from struggling against their added weight, and with one last burst of energy, Roxas leaped up to cover more distance and maybe reach the end of this quagmire.

It was a bad mistake. Roxas took his next step and sank up to his ankle in icy, tar-like goo. He tried to pull it up, and his other leg sank in almost to the knee.

"No." he said desperately. He grabbed his less-sunk knee and pulled.

Something cold slithered across his wrist almost gently before pinching it in an iron grip and jerking it violently.

"No-!" Roxas lost his balance and plunged face first into the living darkness. It wrapped around him hungrily and pulled him down, always down, into its coldest depths.

"Help! Somebody help!" he shouted, his awareness waning as the strength was seeped out of his limbs. "Anyone…."

And then, he was released. He fell hard onto the ground once again, dropped into new surroundings.

He lay there limply in relief for a moment, just breathing. The air here was warmer, with a different fragrance to it that he could not describe. Even the darkness seemed to be of a much lighter shade than before.

All at once he realized. He was tangled up in his bedsheets, laying on the luxurious red carpeting in his room.

"Am I awake now?" Roxas said, sitting up shakily. His bizarre dream seemed to linger; the feeling it gave him made him shiver slightly.

"Arf!"

Roxas looked up to see Mickey's dog, Pluto, sitting there staring at him, his tail wagging furiously. He gave another small bark and gave Roxas a huge lick on the face.

"Egh…what's up, Pluto?" Roxas said groggily, wincing and wiping his face off with his arm.

Pluto barked in reply and pulled on his pajama sleeve.

"Ow! What do you want?"

Pluto whimpered and looked toward the door.

Yellow eyes and jerkily moving shapes could be seen in the dark doorway.

"Heartless!" Roxas got to his feet, awake instantly. The Keyblade materialized in his hand with a blinding flash that drove the Shadows into a frenzy. They launched their tiny bodies at him.

Roxas had never fought Heartless before, at least not since he'd left the Organization, and even then his memories of doing so were vague and unspecific. Still, it came to him as effortlessly and naturally as if he did it every day. Roxas ducked away from the attack and tore the curtains from the window to allow a little more light to see by. A Shadow jumped at his face and he slashed it right in half, easily dispelling it into harmless drips of darkness. The rest wasted no time in following, throwing themselves at him as if they had a death wish, wild with loathing of the Keybearer. Roxas knew that had to be the reason why they were attacking him- after all, he didn't have the only thing they wanted…

Roxas cried out in pain as he backed into the sharp corner of the bedstead. Glancing up, he dodged a claw by rolling backwards onto the bed. He could see yellow eyes glowing down at him from the canopy and hear tearing cloth as they tried to scratch their way through. Where were they all  _coming_ from?

The canopy ripped down the middle, dumping half a dozen Shadows that pinned him down and dug their claws deep into his skin.

"Agh! Get off!" he said in a strangled yell. He could feel blood oozing from several of the nastier cuts.

"Ararararar!" Pluto barked. He leapt onto the Shadows, growling and tearing at them with his teeth.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Roxas jumped up and kicked the Heartless off the bed. The few that survived the crash-landing were easily taken care of by a few swipes of the Keyblade.

Breathing hard, Roxas looked wildly around for signs of any more. Everything looked relatively normal…

"Why- are there-  _Heartless_ \- here?" he panted, standing up out of his fighting pose and dismissing the Keyblade. Several things had been tipped over in the small tussle, but considering how short the battle had lasted, he was actually surprised at the mess that had been made. The curtains and the canopy ripped, his bedside table knocked over, Roxas looked around at the destruction in his room and winced. There was a large tear in his pajama sleeve, as well, and a few smaller rips all over. The pajamas had been provided for him sometime after the meeting- light green flannel with the royal seal stamped all over them in darker green. He would have some explaining to do to the others whenever-

He gasped and stood frozen still. It felt like he had just been punched very hard in the gut.

Heartless. In the castle.

And plenty of hearts for them to steal.

"Where's Queen Minnie?" Roxas yelled stupidly at Pluto. "Daisy and everyone?"

Pluto perked up and barked before dashing out the door.

Roxas ran after him, the Kingdom Key flashing into his hand. He had no doubt that the dog would lead him where they needed to go.

The halls of Disney Castle were dark, cold, and empty- somehow foreboding when they'd been so warm and inviting before. The long, eerie shadows from the long windows cast everything into a sense of unreality, a frightening dreamscape where the monsters were real and the silence pressed in oppressively. The only sound was his bare feet pounding along the marble floor covered in red softness. The steady thump sounded like the pounding of a huge heart.

The Keyblade bounced a little on Roxas' shoulder as he ran, and he wondered how much farther he'd have to run. The darkness and the dreaminess of the surroundings made him start to think that maybe he was still asleep, and this was all just one long stream of semi-lucid dreams.

Roxas quickly got his reality-check.

He came to a dead halt as he saw several black shapes rising up from the floor, blocking his way to the stairs. They wormed up as if the floor was made of loose soil instead of solid marble.

Roxas fell into fighting position, his grip on the Keyblade growing increasingly tighter as the hulking figures fully emerged, their glowing yellow eyes fixed on him menacingly.

Neo Shadows.

A painful burst of light jabbed his mind, washing his vision white as a flurry of images and sounds flooded all around him.

_No ray of light had ever pierced through its dark clouds to shine down on the city that wept almost perpetually._

" _Why do you have the Keyblade?"_

_A white room with towering thrones- blinding, unequal._

" _It's your duty as the Keyblade master!"_

" _You have another mission. Get up."_

" _Hey, don't worry about him. This place is full of stiffs like that. It gets pretty boring around here most of the time."_

_Fear. Echoing footsteps. A rustle of paper._

" _Empty. Artist's block?"_

" _Who's there? Why can't I see anything?"_

"NO! This isn't the time!" Roxas roared, forcefully ripping himself away from the incoming memories. He threw himself into battle even before his vision could clear, very aware that the other inhabitants of the castle must be running low on time. He didn't even want to consider the possibility of a swarm this size further down in the castle where he couldn't reach, couldn't help. To think would be a fatal delay.

The Neo Shadows were bigger, stronger, and faster. He barely had time to rest as he dodged, parried, and striked with Pluto nipping and growling at his heels. His vision was slowly returning to normal, and as it did, Roxas could see that this was not a fight that he would be able to win quickly. The stairway was a moving mass of darkness and innumerable points of eerie light.

Deciding to run for it, Roxas fled down the stairs, cutting a path through the forest of yellow eyes and flailing limbs.

"Come on, Pluto!" he called as he jumped the last step and kept on running. Pluto barked and broke free from the dark mass, running ahead of Roxas to continue leading.

Roxas was glad that Struggle training had kept him in shape during his time in Twilight Town. After cutting through several more mobs of Heartless, his endurance was wearing thin; but they had finally arrived on the first floor.

Pluto gave a loud bark and dashed off toward the end of the hall, heading for the library.

Catching on, Roxas put on an extra burst of speed. He understood now. The others must have barricaded themselves in the library- a small, easily defendable location. But it was also a good place to be trapped if the Heartless didn't diminish soon.

Shadows and Neo Shadows rose out of the ground like hyperactive weeds. It looked like the majority had converged on this spot, drawn to the hearts nearby and the Keybearer coming their way.

Roxas cursed and jumped through them all, slashing randomly here and there as he struggled to make it to the library door.

Chilled darkness clung to his limbs, weighing him down. Claws dug in deep and sunk in deeper every time he tried to move. He felt like he was swimming through them more than moving past them.

Unable to take any more, Roxas stopped long enough to slash away at the ones crawling over him. He could no longer see or hear Pluto anywhere nearby, and he couldn't help but wonder what Mickey would say if his dog got turned into a Heartless.

Momentarily freed, Roxas dashed the remaining distance to the library door.

"Queen Minnie? Are you in there?" he called, beating on the door. "Anyone?"

"Oh!" he heard Minnie gasp.

"It's Roxas!" Daisy said.

"Let him in, quick!" a tiny chipmunk voice squeaked.

"No! Wait!" Roxas could feel dozens of claws latching onto him again. "There are lots of Heartless out h-"

The door swung open, and Roxas had the briefest glimpse of the inside of the room, and of Minnie as she raised one hand in the air.

" _Faith!"_

Roxas closed his eyes instinctively as a brilliant light burst out of the library, a vast shockwave of warm air that rippled through his entire body. The weight and chill that clung to him so possessively simply melted away into the warm light.

The world outside his eyelids grew dark again, and Roxas carefully opened his eyes.

A few sparkles that lingered in the air drifted down and disappeared in the carpet. Minnie was trotting over to him, her face pinched with worry.

"I didn't hurt you, I hope?" she fretted as Roxas, suddenly extremely tired, fell back ungracefully on his rear. "I wasn't sure if that move would…"

Roxas thought he could sort of understand why she'd been concerned. But Nobodies were just as immune to the powers of Light as those of Darkness…they just tended to align themselves with Darkness more.

"I'm fine, Your Majesty," Roxas yawned and rubbed the back of his head with his hand, "but I could probably use another five hours of sleep…"

A faint whimper was heard and Pluto came limping up, sniffling and licking at Roxas' ear with a whine.

"Pluto!" Minnie cried. "What did you get yourself into?"

Pluto did look a mess. Like Roxas, he was covered in innumerable scratches, and occasionally his whole body would give a shiver. He continued to whine.

"Sorry." Roxas said. He stood up heavily. "He led me down here to all of you, and we had a lot of Heartless to fight." He looked as Daisy, Chip, and Dale came out of the library. "Where is everyone else?"

"We don't know." Minnie said worriedly. "I hope they all found somewhere safe…"

"Heartless!" Daisy spat distastefully. "They have some nerve, coming here!"

"We had to run all the way from the Gummi Hangar!" Chip was hopping up and down, apparently from nerves.

"Any Heartless that goes after Queen Minnie has 'ta go through me!" Dale declared.

"The question is,  _why_  are there Heartless here?" Roxas said. "Right after the King and Riku left, too. I don't like it. It can't be a coincidence."

"You think someone sent them after us?" Chip said fearfully.

Daisy agreed. "The timing is too good, especially since they've never come here before."

"But that's just it." Minnie said. "They never  _have_  come here before, and Mickey and Riku have been gone plenty of times, and that was without Roxas being here too."

They all became quiet and looked at Roxas. The same thought seemed to hit them all at the same time.

Perhaps the castle wasn't what whoever sent the Heartless was waiting to be left unattended.

"We need to get to the audience chamber." Minnie said firmly. "Roxas, come with me. I'll put a seal over the library door to protect everyone else. "

 


	8. The Fifth Report

"Wow," Riku said, blinking in the light. "It has really changed."

Hollow Bastion was no longer the empty shell of a world it had once been. The shopping area they'd landed in was bustling and welcoming. He was relieved to see that his actions hadn't permanently ruined the world. He wondered how grand it all must have been before Maleficent stepped in.

"Here comes Leon," Mickey said. Riku tensed up involuntarily, but Leon was walking toward them with an easy smile, apparently unperturbed by Mickey's hooded companion.

"We've been waiting for you," he said when he reached them. He bent to shake Mickey's hand. "It's nice to finally talk to you face to face rather than through a computer screen."

"Likewise," Mickey grinned. "Have you found a clue to where Ansem the Wise or the Organization might be?"

"Unfortunately not," Leon said, "but we did find a new part of the castle that we think may have been part of Ansem's lab. We found another new Ansem Report there. Cid and Merlin are examining it now." His eyes touched on Riku's face beneath his hood. "Is this…?"

"Riku," Mickey confirmed. "He came to see what new information you had, too."

Leon held out his hand and Riku slowly shook it.

"It's nice to meet you too," Leon said. "The real you, that is. Sora always thought a lot of you."

Riku swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm not the real me. Not completely."

Leon shook his head and turned back the way he came. Mickey followed as he started walking and Riku did too, hesitantly.

"It's alright if you want to lose that hood," Leon said. "You don't have to worry. The people here that lived through the attack only remember Maleficent. Everyone was gone by the time the imposter Ansem came here."

Riku stayed behind them and didn't answer, but after a lot of hesitation, he lowered his hood.

When they entered Merlin's house, Cid was sitting at his computer and Merlin was standing behind him. The scanned version of the Report and pictures of the newly discovered part of the castle were open in different windows on the screen. Yuffie and Aerith were talking near a map of Hollow Bastion pinned to the wall.

"We're here," Leon announced.

Everyone turned around, except for Cid, who kept clacking away on his computer like usual. For a moment, expressions of pure shock and confusion flitted across their faces when they saw Riku. It only lasted a second, though, before Aerith's face softened and she walked toward them.

"We're so glad you're here!" she said, "They're looking at all the newest evidence right now. Here," she handed a laminated sheet of paper to Mickey– the original report, Riku assumed.

"I'm afraid it's not much right now, but we are on to something with the room we discovered, I am sure of it." Merlin said. "Now, sit down for a moment and tell us about the situation with Sora." He cleared his throat and waved his wand and his small table grew large enough to seat everyone. He gave his wand a flick and additional chairs appeared.

"Sora has been taken by Organization XIII," Riku said as he sat down at the table. Mickey followed him, his eyes intent on the report the entire time. Everyone except for Cid settled around the table too. "It happened right before we were all set to wake him up. They took Naminé too. We only managed to get Roxas out of there… he's staying at Disney Castle right now."

"Where did they take him?" Merlin asked urgently. "Is there no way to track them down?"

"They probably took him to their word," Riku said bitterly. "And neither I nor Roxas remember how to get there."

 _Not that he would help even if he did remember,_ he added silently.

"We learned about the project to restore Sora's memories after our own memories of him started coming back," Aerith said. "It seems that this Naminé has the ability to not only affect his memories but the memories other people have of him."

"Yes," Riku said. "DiZ had decided it would be better if everyone forgot Sora while he was being restored, to reduce the chance of someone interfering. Even I forgot him for a little while, until DiZ decided he needed my help."

"This DiZ character doesn't seem right to me," Cid said from his computer. "Why's it to him to decide what's best for Sora?"

"I never liked that either," Riku said, staring at his hands folded on the table. "But there was no other way. He was the one that rescued him and Naminé from Castle Oblivion and started reversing the damage that had been done to Sora's memory. He had the equipment for all of it too."

"Do you have any idea what the Organization plans to do with Sora?" Leon asked.

Riku glanced at Mickey, who looked up from the Report long enough to exchange a worried glance.

"At Castle Oblivion," Riku said, "the Organization dissidents tried to use him to go after the higher-ups. We think they're either trying to keep him asleep so he doesn't mess up their plans, or worse, that they're going to try to use Naminé to make him think he works for them."

"There no way that could happen!" Yuffie said. "Naminé or not, there's no way they could get Sora to work for them. No matter what, you can't change a person's heart. If Sora can tell that what they are doing is wrong, there is no way he would go along with them no matter what his memory says."

"I agree." Mickey said firmly.

"Unfortunately, from the sound of things…" Leon sighed, "it seems like nothing short of a suicide mission to the Nobodies' world is going to get Sora back. I know it doesn't sound like the ideal solution, but maybe the surest way of getting him back is to wait until he is awake and acting on his own. It would be easier to reach him that way…whatever state his memories may be in by the time that happens."

"No!" Riku said instantly. "Sora is the only person with a heart on a world full of powerful Heartless, and with Naminé in their clutches, who knows what the Organization will try to turn him into?"

"So you're just planning on storming their world and taking on all the Nobodies one by one?" Cid turned around in his chair and snorted. "Assuming you can even find it?"

"Hey, don't say that." Yuffie crossed her arms. "You'll put ideas in his head. I don't know, but a prerequisite for wielding the Keyblade just might be a tendency to take extreme, drastic, completely insane action."

"Wouldn' doubt it." Cid said.

"But doesn't it seem strange?" Aerith said as an afterthought, not paying attention to the tangent her friends were trailing off on.

"What does?" Merlin asked her.

"The fact that Riku and Roxas haven't forgotten anything even though the Organization could just as easily manipulate their memories too, if everything you've told us before about Naminé's powers is true, King Mickey." She waved a finger. "Why not just make them forget everything? The only thing they can't seem to remember is how to reach the Organization's world."

"I guess…that's all that they are worried about?" Yuffie shrugged. "I mean, that makes the Organization pretty safe doesn't it?"

Riku frowned. He wasn't sure if he could share that same optimistic view.

"Why  _would_ they allow us the luxury of keeping most of our memories just as they were before they captured Naminé?" he wondered. "It's already been two days. That's more than enough time. She could make us pass out right now and wake up forgetting we ever knew Sora. And it's been proven already that she's capable of doing that across worlds."

"Are they really that confident? Or do they  _want_  you to keep looking for Sora?" Leon frowned.

"Or maybe she just hasn't given in to the command yet," Aerith suggested softly.

"Either way, I'm getting all this data down," Cid said, typing at his computer furiously. "We can't let a little memory loss stop us. This way, we'll be able to read about what we forgot."

Riku crossed his arms and stared down at the table in troubled thought. It didn't sit right with him at all thinking that he and the others could lose their Sora-related memories at any moment. Under those circumstances, it would be almost too easy for the Organization to keep them from coming after Sora. Was that why they didn't bother? Because they knew the moment they got to close to finding him, they could just pull the plug on their memories? And they had it bad enough. In Roxas' case, she could manipulate  _anything_.

Riku glanced beside him where Mickey had set aside the Report. It had a large elaborate 5 at the top of it. He slid it in front of him and began to read.

_In this realm, where all existence has been disintegrated, I have just barely managed to preserve my sense of self by continuing to think and to write._

_It is a place where even time has lost all meaning. Eternity is as but a moment here._

_I must make haste. Certainly their plans are already underway._

_The Heartless must be the key to unraveling this mystery._

_The six traitors were operating a laboratory that churned out those cursed shadows._

_Not only did they generate "pureblood" Heartless from living hearts, but they then used those Heartless to synthesize artificial versions of the creatures as well._

_These synthetic Heartless bore insignias and were called "Emblems."_

_Pureblood or Emblem, these heartless act only to fulfill their instinctive needs. They single-mindedly detect hearts and swarm around them._

_A human's commands would be ineffective: The Heartless would easily steal the human's heart and use it to increase their own ranks._

_But what if an even stronger Heartless was giving the orders?_

_If he cast aside his own soul and body and became a Heartless, wouldn't he be able to control the otherwise intractable Heartless?_

_Furthermore, wouldn't he be planning to make use of the creatures' instincts? If the heart-seeking Heartless have their sights set on a larger, more powerful heart, their ultimate goal is crystal-clear._

_The largest heart in existence—the heart of the world._

_This is all conjecture, but it would seem he is utilizing the Heartless in his search for a path leading to the heart of the world._

Suddenly Cid's loud typing was interrupted by a cheerful jingle accompanied by a flashing box on screen.

"It's a call from Disney Castle," he said. "I'm putting it through."

The communication window opened up to show Ned, one of the castle guards, and he looked terrified.

"The King!" he shouted. "Is the King there?"

* * *

"Maleficent!"

It was surprise more than anything- when Roxas followed Minnie down into the room beneath the audience chamber, he hadn't expected another one of his borrowed memories to suddenly jump into reality.

… _Was_ it real? He could see Maleficent standing before a large glowing orb, but she looked like a ghost, not solid enough to actually be there.

"Well, if it isn't the Keybearer and his sniveling companions." She turned around and was about to say more, but then she caught sight of Roxas. She was obviously thrown off by him, because she paused and merely looked at him for a moment.

"Pardon me." She said. "It seems that I have mistaken you for someone else. Who are you?" her eyes lingered on the Keyblade.

"My name is Roxas." He said strongly, trying not to seem intimidated.

"Oh?" her eyes lit up and a slight grin came on her face. Apparently this meant something to her.

"What are you doing here, Maleficent?" Minnie said, stepping up beside Roxas defensively.

"Queen Minnie. This  _is_ a pleasant surprise." Maleficent said smoothly, turning her attention to Minnie. "Well, if you must know, I originally decided to come here on a whim that I might find Sora and his friends, or at least someone that knew where to find them. But when I saw your lovely castle, I thought that I might like to have it for my very own… with a little bit of redecorating to my taste, of course." She started to walk toward them. Roxas tensed, keeping on his guard. Maleficent looked at him very interestedly, her eyes boring through him as if she was trying to stare into his very mind. "Though revenge does come first. You wouldn't happen to know where I can find Sora, would you?" the implied threat laced underneath her tone was very clear.

"Yeah, I would." Roxas bristled. "But good luck with that one. He's comatose and in the Organization's clutches right now. If you want to find him you'll have to wait in line behind everyone else."

" _What?"_ Maleficent exclaimed, and green fire flared around her momentarily. "Those meddling fools have interfered with me for the last time!" she turned with in swirl of black and stalked off toward the orb (which, Minnie had explained to Roxas on the way here, was the Cornerstone of Light that usually kept the castle safe from darkness).

"I cannot enter this castle fully as long as this is intact." Maleficent seethed, glaring at the Cornerstone. "Sora- or this castle. Which will be the most difficult to obtain, I wonder? Still, revenge before pleasure, they say. Very well." She turned back to them. "I will return. For now, I leave you with this parting gift!"

Maleficent raised her staff high into the air, green flames licking the edges of her voluminous black dress.

"Get down!" Roxas shouted. He turned and grabbed Minnie just in time, shielding her with his body just as a wave of penetrating darkness laced with flame washed over them.

The darkness sizzled and burned the air. The formerly pristine white room grew gloomy; gigantic thorns sprouted and covered the walls. This attack was very similar to Minnie's  _Faith_  attack except that it was the exact opposite. Roxas could hear it howling in his ears and feel it rushing through him.

And then, it was gone.

"Roxas!" Minnie cried as he let go of her and held himself up off the floor with shaking arms. Purplish-black streams of smoke where coming off of him, clinging to the scratches from his last fight. "Curaga!"

A green plume blossomed above him and his cuts sealed up, returning strength to his body in a warm rush.

"Thanks." He said tiredly, sitting up. Minnie put a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I should have healed you back at the library." She said. "Oh, please be more careful from now on. I could have made a shield for the both of us- the darkness will get you if you keep being so reckless!"

Roxas gave a soft, melancholy laugh. "Did you forget that I'm a Nobody, Your Highness? The darkness can't  _get_  me."

"Oh!" she covered her mouth with her hands.

She  _had_ forgotten! For that split second, everything she knew about Roxas being just one part of Sora vanished. She felt embarrassed and very sorry at the same time, and sad in a way that she couldn't quite explain. It was all so confusing. She hoped that she hadn't offended him in some way.

"How silly of me, of course…I'm sorry." Roxas started to stand up, and she quickly helped to steady him. "Actually, I suppose I should thank you for saving me. You did, when you didn't have to."

"Why wouldn't I? It's only natural, isn't it?" Roxas frowned and ran his fingers through his hair. "We should go back and check on the others. There's no telling what other 'parting gifts' Maleficent left for us."

"Behind you!" Minnie suddenly shrieked.

Roxas didn't bother thinking it over. He dived off to the side, just in time to avoid a stream of flames headed his way.

"Damn!" he said, scrambling to his feet. "A Fat Bandit!"

"There's more of them!" Minnie scurried over beside Roxas.

That wasn't all, either. The chamber was filled with many varieties of Heartless, not all of them familiar. Several machine-looking Heartless walked in a pack, perfectly in step with each other. A few small, spherical brown Heartless bounced around, white numbers over their heads. Heartless riding in funny little airplanes zoomed about. Shadows and Invisibles and Large Bodies stomped all over as well.

"Queen Minnie? I hope you're ready," Roxas said grimly, sinking down into a fighting stance.

* * *

"You  _have_  to let us go with you." Yuffie said, on the verge of a towering temper. She and the others had followed Mickey and Riku out to their Gummi ship. "And I don't want to hear that 'we have to use paths of darkness' crap or whatever. We can handle it! We all had to go through the darkness to escape when the Heartless came!"

"No." Mickey said. "We don't know who is attacking or why. They could be aware of our movements. You can't all just leave Hollow Bastion."

"But-!"

"I'll go, then." Leon said, stepping forward.

Mickey looked for a second as if he was going to protest, but he closed his mouth and nodded.

"Leooon!" Yuffie seethed.

"He's right; we can't leave Hollow Bastion undefended." Leon said, walking up the ramp into the Gummi ship without looking back. "You stay here with the others and look out for any trouble."

" _Oh, there's gonna be trouble!"_  Yuffie pulled out several shuriken with a murderous expression on her face. "Hey!" she protested as Cid calmly put her in a headlock and started dragging her back to the house.

"Are we ready then? Let's go." Riku turned and walked into the ship. Mickey and Leon soon followed.

Riku made sure the other two were safely in their seats before blasting off. In mere seconds, they were suspended in the vast glittery realm of regular space.

"Preparing to shift into Darkness." Riku said. "Got your seatbelt on, Leon?"

"Hm. Thanks for the tip." Leon reached over to fasten his seatbelt. "At least I'm in a ship this time."

"Riku! Look!" Mickey pointed at the computer screen, very alarmed.

"What is it?" Riku released the controls and walked over beside him. He knew it had to be serious for Mickey to be distracted at a time like this.

Mickey simply pointed, apparently at a loss for words. Riku's eyes scanned the screen depicting the span of all known worlds. He very quickly saw the problem.

"What…" he put his hands on the screen and scanned over it three more times just to be sure he wasn't missing something, "the hell…?"

"What's wrong?" Leon asked.

"Twilight Town," Riku stood fully and turned back to look at him. "It's gone."

"Ah-!" Roxas barely dodged the powerful swipe of a Large Body only to trip on a bramble and land painfully amid sharp thorns and tangled vines. Maleficent's renovations to the Hall of the Cornerstone had thus far done nothing but hinder what was already a pretty hopeless fight.

 _If I had known all of this was going to happen_ , Roxas thought as he got to his feet,  _I think I would have trained a little more._

The fact remained that he didn't have but a fraction of his former skills, having much of what he had known erased from his memory. He had already tried several times to call forth his old partners, Oathkeeper and Oblivion- but he didn't have the faintest clue of how to do it, or even if it was possible for him anymore.

And yet, he found that it didn't matter. He had to keep fighting, or else the Heartless would take everyone there. The strangest thing about it was that it wasn't even a question. He fought for someone else- because he wanted to. To save them.

It wasn't a feeling he was used to.

"Roxas!" Minnie yelled from nearby, never relenting in launching pearls of light at the Heartless around her. "We can't do this on our own! We need to call for help!"

"How?" Roxas ripped through a Shadow and quickly glanced around to see Minnie standing near the Cornerstone. Strangely, the Heartless closest to it seemed weaker- their movements were slow and lethargic, and it took much less effort to take them down.

"In the hangar there's a radio you can use to contact the  _Pluto_." Minnie said. "If there's anyone aboard, you'll be able to talk to them."

"What if they're still in Hollow Bastion?" Roxas pressed his back to the Cornerstone. The Heartless didn't seem to want to come any closer, and they stayed back in a vague circle around them. "You're suggesting that I leave you here and go off to try something that may or may not work!"

"We don't have a choice!" Minnie said. She followed Roxas' lead in staying close to the Cornerstone. "You can run faster than me, and we've got to do something soon! I'll be fine here as long as I stay in this spot."

"No need. We're already here." said a voice.

Roxas never thought he'd ever be so glad to see Riku.

"Are you guys alright?" Mickey called. He, Riku, and Leon were running down from the audience chamber, weapons in hand.

"We're fine, but Daisy, Chip, and Dale are trapped in the library." Roxas shouted across the room. "We don't know where anyone else is. Maleficent came here: she brought all these Heartless and did something to this room."

"There shouldn't be anyone else," Mickey called back. "Everyone but the Guard goes home at night. Their quarters are located on the lowest level, so most of them should be pretty safe. We need to find any guards still patrolling the halls, though."

"I'll go." Leon said instantly. "Which way to the library?"

"It's at the end of the hall." Mickey said. He glanced up at Roxas, and Minnie close behind. "Roxas, you go too, and get Minnie to safety. Me and Riku can handle the rest of these. You deserve a little bit of a break."

"Alright." Roxas let Minnie catch up to him before walking toward the exit. They  _had_  put quite a dent in the Heartless, and he knew that he could trust Mickey's judgment. "Come on, Leon."

Leon gave him a funny look.

"What?" Roxas said impatiently. Riku and Mickey had already jumped into battle.

"Sorry." Leon shook his head. "It just feels odd that you know my name when we've never met."

Roxas was actually confused as to what Leon was talking about for a second, before he remembered that it was true- they hadn't met before. Roxas only remembered Sora meeting him.

"I guess it is." Roxas gave a little smile. He'd just known Leon without thinking about how.

What was wrong with him?

"Alright boys, let's hurry and get to the library." Minnie neatly interrupted. "It's dangerous to just stand here."

"Yeah. Let's go." Roxas nodded, and they all turned and ran up the stairs to the audience chamber.

* * *

"Well, well, if it isn't the Flurry of Dancing Flames."

Axel glanced up to see Xaldin standing over him. He had been sitting on an open ledge beneath the vast sky- a high perch that rose above the surrounding city stretching out to the horizon. It was his favorite place to be alone and think.

"What do you want?" Axel turned back to his spectacular view.

"I went to see Sora today." Xaldin said, and- to Axel's irritation- started pacing behind him like an animal stalking prey. "He really does bear a striking resemblance to number XIII. It's interesting to see the Other of a former member."

Axel didn't answer.

"And that witch Naminé is actually doing her work quietly, believe it or not." Xaldin continued. "The time for him to awaken grows ever closer, with or without Roxas. You know, I heard that the mouse king took him to Disney Castle."

"So?" Axel said finally. "Why would I care?"

Xaldin lowered his voice in a hiss, as if worried that he might be overheard. "Come on, you don't honestly believe that he will ever be welcome here again, do you? Even you're not that stupid. You  _must_ be up to something. Frankly, we're all waiting for you to ruin your last chance on something drastic and foolish so that we can finally be rid of you."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Axel put his hands behind his head and leaned back to look at the sky, utterly casual. "Roxas has got his own life now."

"You would do anything to keep us away from him. You can't pretend that you have any loyalty whatsoever to the Organization!"

"At least I'm not the one who let King Mickey and Riku snatch him away so easily. What idiot managed that? Oh yeah: you!" Axel smirked. "That doesn't say a lot for one's loyalty, does it?"

Axel felt a whoosh of air brush his cheek and saw a quivering lance right beside his eye. He merely smiled wider.

"Hit a nerve there, Xaldie?" he said quietly. "I'm curious to know how you found a way to explain to the Superior that you failed. I wouldn't know, since, you know, I've never failed."

"That was an accident!" Xaldin was shaking with indignation and rage. "And you did fail- you failed to bring Roxas back in the first place! Everyone anticipated that you would fail- and then you got lucky, and the Superior decided to change the plan!" he lowered his voice again and growled,  _"And_ you helped him escape the first time. Maybe we can't prove a thing, but I know that you did."

"I captured Sora." Axel said lazily. "I stopped the Castle Oblivion plot. I killed Vexen. Come back and point fingers  _after_  your track record's better than mine, how about it?"

Xaldin frowned bitterly and wrenched his lance out of the floor.

"One more sign of treachery, Axel, and you'll find more weapons than just mine at your throat." He said before darkness enveloped him and he vanished.

Axel stared up at the sky, sighing a little. From here he had a perfect view of Kingdom Hearts. The gigantic heart-shaped moon glowed, beautiful and eerie all at once.

He had often sat here and wondered if Xemnas' plan to get their hearts back was just crazy enough to work, or if it was all just a wild goose chase to keep them all in his service for however long he wanted.

Thunder rumbled distantly, and Axel felt a few tiny drops of rain on his face.

"Damn." He cursed, sitting up and pulling up his hood just in time for the downpour.


	9. Darkness of the Heart

"So, how did you guys know to come here?" Roxas asked Leon as they quickly made their way down a dark hall. Minnie had insisted that they leave her with everyone in the library so that they wouldn't have to move them to another location. With her there, it would be safe enough.

"One of the guards managed to get to the communications room to call us." Leon said grimly. "He told us that some of their people on patrol were still missing."

"I don't understand why Maleficent did this. She didn't even seem to know I was here." Roxas frowned.

"I don't know. Mickey and Riku brought us up to date on everything from the past couple of days. I gotta tell you, it was a lot to take in at once. To think that all this with the Organization has been going on right under our noses and we never knew…actually, it hasn't even been that long since we remembered everything."

"What?" Roxas looked over at him, confused.

Leon shook his head as if he didn't quite understand it himself. "We forgot everything, as if we had never left Hollow Bastion and things had always been the way they are now. It's been a whole year since we've had any contact with the outside world. If we hadn't forgotten everything, we probably would have gone out a long time ago to see what was going on. Then maybe we wouldn't have been so far out of the loop with what's going on with the worlds."

"Naminé." Roxas realized. Of course. With Sora deep in slumber, it made sense that the ones closest to him would worry and eventually go searching for him. Just like now. The only difference was…

"Look!" Leon said as they turned a corner.

Someone was crumpled on the floor in a limp heap, lying right up against the wall.

Roxas and Leon ran over there. It was a dog-like soldier plated with armor, vaguely conscious. When Leon turned him over, his eyelids fluttered and he let out a soft groan.

"Get some of this armor off so he can breathe better." Leon instructed, pulling off the Guardsman's helmet.

"Can you cast Cure?" Roxas asked as he loosened the shoulder clasps of the armor and took off the chest piece.

"I was about to ask you that, kid." Leon said regretfully. "And we set off in such a hurry that we didn't grab any extra items…" he felt around inside his pocket and pulled out a small bottle. He squinted to read it. "Potion."

"It's better than nothing." Roxas said.

Leon nodded and unscrewed the cap, propping the Guardsman's head up and carefully getting him to drink from the bottle.

The guard drank semi-consciously, his throat working to swallow the soothing warm liquid. When he finished, he opened his eyes and his gaze was clear, albeit a little confused.

He blinked.

"Aaah! Stay back!" he cried, scrambling up into a seating position and throwing his arms up defensively faster than you could say 'jackrabbit.'

"Whoa, take it easy. We're not Heartless." Leon said carefully, unsure if the frightened guard would try to attack them.

"Heartless?" he lowered his arms and squinted at them in the dim light. " _That's_ what those…those  _things_ were?"

"Yeah." Roxas and Leon stood up, and Roxas offered the guard the dropped sword he'd found nearby. "You're lucky that they didn't get your heart."

The guard took his sword and shakily got to his feet, returning his sword to its sheath.

"I…I fought them off." He said. "Then I tried to run and warn the others, but I ran into more of them. I don't remember how many…I blacked out."

"What's your name?" Leon asked.

"Tucker."

"Alright then, Tucker. Do you know where the other guards might be? You know all the spots where you guys are posted, right?"

"Yeah." Tucker paused, thinking for a moment. "There's always someone outside the Queen's chambers. Our quarters are right next to the Armory, so there's always someone awake there, too. Then we all take turns on patrol. This round it was me. Sometimes there'll be another guy on patrol too, up to two at a time at night, but not always. This late, probably not." He grimaced. "Stuff like this just doesn't happen around here, you know…"

"That guard outside the Queen's chambers." Roxas said. "He would have been with the Queen, right? But as far as I know, she made it to the library by herself."

Tucker looked thunderstruck.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions." Leon said quickly. "Tucker, do you know who was posted there at the time?"

Tucker thought, his dog-like face wrinkled up with worry. Then his expression cleared. He looked extremely relieved.

"Yeah, I remember!" he said. "Ol' Hop's brother. My buddy Jerome." He laughed. "See, Hop's the oddball in his family. Most of the rest of them are the biggest bunch of cowards you'll ever see. The King only let Jerome join out of kindness. I bet he took one look at those Heartless monsters and high-tailed it out of there like the scaredy cat he is!"

"Alright then." Leon hoisted up his gunblade and rested it on his shoulder. "Let's go scan the area and see if we can find him. You feeling up to it?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Tucker said. He picked up his helmet and put it on, but left his chest plate sitting where it was. "Just don't expect me to be much use fighting."

"Fair enough." Leon said. "First, we'll do a sweep of the whole floor. If we don't find anything, we'll go back down where the others are. I'm sure that the rest of the Guard is awake by now, and he could be with them."

"Good a plan as any." Roxas yawned. He noticed that the corridor was growing a little lighter. "The sun's going to rise soon. That'll make things a little easier."

"Hopefully." Tucker said. "Okay, we need to get to the stairs and go two flights up to reach the Queen's chambers."

They started off, moving quickly. Roxas seriously hoped that the dawn would bring peace for this world along with it. He hated to see a place like this touched by so much darkness.

* * *

Maleficent stood inside the ruins of Hollow Bastion castle, looking out across the vast and bare land below. Her absence seemed to have not served the Castle's condition very well. It looked far too decrepit to have been abandoned for only a year- she suspected that it had been purposely burned and ransacked.

"Another meddling Keybearer." She mused. "And this one from completely out of nowhere. Roxas, Roxas…" she seemed to be trying to place a vaguely familiar name.

"Maybe Sora snuffed it and the Keyblade chose a new wielder." Pete suggested.

"Shut up, you useless imbecile." Maleficent snapped. "The child said that Sora was being held captive by the Organization. Obviously they intend to use him to further their own plans. And until they succeed, they will keep him alive. No, there's something more." She started to pace thoughtfully. "There was something about him…something missing…"

"Well, his name's got an 'x' in it, like those Organization guys." Pete said. He winced when Maleficent turned to him quickly, afraid that he was about to receive another tongue-lashing.

"It does, yes…" she said thoughtfully, to Pete's relief. "Sora…Roxas."

Maleficent cracked an evil smile.

"I see. A heart is what he was missing. Well, this  _is_ interesting. It seems even the mighty Keybearer is fallible."

Pete didn't get it. "Uh…"

"We can use this boy." Maleficent said, her excitement rising. "We can use him to get revenge on the Organization as well as Sora and his friends. We must find out more. Pete!"

"Yeah?" he said uncertainly.

"Contact whoever you can- anyone who will join in. See what else we can discover about this new Keybearer. I will visit Hades. Perhaps we can make use of his services as well."

"What exactly d'you have in mind?" Pete was a little scared of Hades. Of course, he was also more than a little afraid of Maleficent herself.

"Something Hades won't object to, I'm sure." Maleficent put a finger to her chin with a satisfied smile. "After all, manipulating innocent bystanders into doing his bidding is his favorite hobby. With his help we can get close to the boy without raising suspicions."

The gears of devious planning were working away in Maleficent's mind. She didn't know much about this Roxas, but it was clear that he could be an invaluable asset to her plans; and she intended to take advantage of this opportunity any way she could.

* * *

"We're almost there." Tucker said. They were running down a hall that was darker than the previous one- the tall, thin windows were high up and fewer in number. The effect was creepy. The air was a little cooler, and darkness seemed to cling almost stubbornly to the walls.

"We just have to go up one more- AH!"

Roxas and Leon turned around at Tucker's surprised cry. A crouched form had leaped out of the darkness and jumped at him. He moved just in time and nearly stumbled in his haste.

"What is  _that?_ " he yelped.

The figure was half-standing, and tendrils of darkness streamed from it. It turned with a growl and they saw wide, lidless yellow eyes staring at them. It wasn't fully covered in darkness, however, and they could distinctly see that it was wearing clothes and armor. Leon instantly recognized the symptoms of someone well on their way to becoming a Heartless the slow and painful way- by giving in to the darkness. People who transformed because another Heartless stole their heart usually never knew what happened to them. Even worse, these half-Heartless creatures looked like the people they used to be until the very end.

They'd found who they were looking for.

" _Jerome?"_ Tucker yelled in shock and horror.

"Get out of the way!" Leon pulled Tucker back as Jerome snarled and jumped at him again. Tucker seemed too stunned to move on his own. "He's too far gone, it's dangerous!"

Jerome turned his lamp-like eyes on Roxas before deciding to attack him instead.

"Whoa!" Roxas quickly brought up the Keyblade to defend himself. Jerome's newly-formed claws and razor-sharp teeth clamped down on the Keyblade like a crazed animal.

" _Keyblade wielder…"_ Jerome hissed, and Roxas jumped a little in surprise to hear the creature actually speak.  _"Kill the Keyblade wielder…kill…"_

"Roxas, do something!" Leon shouted, still having to keep a firm hold on Tucker to ensure he didn't run toward his friend.

"Ugh!" Roxas grunted in effort to keep Jerome at bay. The darkness seemed to give him incredible strength. "Like what?"

" _Hearts…HEARTS! I NEED HEARTS!"_ the Guardsman's voice was becoming increasingly deformed. Soon he would lose use of it completely. In the meantime, however, the unnatural shrieks were making them all feel very sick.  _"KILL! NEED HEARTS!"_

Roxas was about to ask again what the heck he was supposed to do, when Jerome had a burst of unexpected strength, tore the Keyblade from his grasp, and tackled Roxas to the ground. Tucker cried out as the thing that used to be his comrade attacked one of his rescuers with an insatiable hunger.

"No! Stop it, Jerome!" he yelled.

Jerome ripped through Roxas' shirt and sunk one claw deep into his chest, going through skin and flesh to search around inside.

For a moment, Roxas forgot how to breathe.

But of course, Jerome could not find his prize. He let out a cry of rage just as Leon's gunblade came down on his head, splitting him neatly in two. The ghostly image of a Soldier Heartless rose up before it dissolved into a little pink heart that floated up into the air and disappeared.

"God…oh my God…" Tucker rambled senselessly, sinking to his knees. "Is he…" he stared avidly at Roxas, splayed out on the floor, eyes wide and staring blankly at the ceiling, mouth slightly open.

"Roxas!" Leon said loudly. He was trying very hard not to panic.

Roxas suddenly remembered that he needed air.

He sat up with a sharp gasp as if he'd just escaped drowning and took several desperate breaths. He was shaking all over as he placed one hand over his bare chest. The scratches there stung and throbbed.

Leon gave a sigh of relief. "Please don't ever do that again, kid."

"You're alright!" Tucker had tears streaming down his face. The nights' events since he first saw the Heartless were overwhelming him and he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Yeah, lucky me. I'll feel that one tomorrow." Roxas said croakily. He tried to sound casual, but his voice was higher than normal and horror lingered behind his eyes. He could see the shape Tucker was in, though, and knew that he probably felt even worse.

"Look." Roxas said, standing up and holding his arms out to show that he was all in one piece. "I'm fine. He couldn't steal my heart. I don't have one."

"Any fully formed Heartless would have known that, too." Leon said grimly, pulling Tucker up. "I'm sorry, man. There was nothing we could do."

"What?" Tucker was dazed. "How can you live without a heart?"

"Beats me." Roxas said. "I'm a Nobody- the shell of a person who lost their heart."

Tucker gave a shudder.

"Stuff like this doesn't happen here." He said again. He was now staring at Leon's gunblade.

"Let's go back and tell the King about the situation." Leon said pointedly. "Somebody has to tell Hop what happened to his brother."

A flicker of life flashed across Tucker's face.

"That's right." He said. "He'll be very sad to hear it." His expression grew determined. "We're going to have to be strong, for him."

"Right." Leon said. "We'll go on ahead, then. Roxas…you should find some clothes to change into."

"Oh…right." Roxas said, slightly embarrassed. "I think my clothes are somewhere in my room." He winced, thinking of the mess he'd left his room in.

"Alright then. Take it easy. And be careful- I want you to find Minnie or someone as soon as possible to get healed up."

"Yeah." Roxas said tiredly. He yawned as Leon and Tucker went back, going slowly due to Tucker's injuries. Roxas felt like he'd been awake for days. He would get his old clothes back on, go get healed, and- he gave another yawn- take a very long nap.

Roxas walked down the ever-lightening hallway, his mind drifting to less pleasant thoughts. The darkness had taken a member of Mickey's Guard and deeply affected another. Roxas hoped that Tucker wouldn't eventually sink into the same darkness that had enslaved his friend.

 _They're not trained to cope with things like this._ Roxas thought, shaking his head.  _They've lived their whole lives on this world, never having to worry about the darkness or this fight over the worlds. All the people here, they're just like…_

" _When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid's stuff!"_

Roxas shook his head again- this time to clear it.

 _This still isn't the time._ He growled internally at himself.

* * *

"So far, there hasn't been any sign of Organization XIII, and Roxas said they didn't show up earlier either. That doesn't mean that we can rule out them watching the castle, though." Leon concluded. He had taken Tucker down to the Guard's quarters where he could rest and explain things to the others, and now Leon was finished giving his own summary to everyone else. Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Chip, Dale, and Riku were all resting in the audience chamber.

"So where is Roxas now?" Mickey asked.

"He'll be down in a minute." Leon said. "I told him that I wanted him to get back here as soon as possible so he could get a potion or have someone cast Cure on him. He'll probably need to take it easy for a couple of days as well. I have no idea what kind of effect, if any, having a Heartless try to steal his heart will have."

"Maybe none." Mickey said, looking perplexed. "It's not exactly the kinda thing you hear a lot about."

"So, what are we going to do now?" Daisy said worriedly. "Maleficent is after Sora too, and who knows when she'll come back here?"

"Maleficent won't be able to do this again." Mickey said firmly. "I'll see to that. We'll just have to strengthen our magical defenses, especially around the Cornerstone."

"Hey, I'm back." Roxas said, joining the group. He was wearing his old Twilight Town clothes, as well as a messenger bag containing his only other material possessions- Naminé's sketchbook and the Ansem Reports. "What did I miss?"

"Catch." Riku said, tossing him a hi-potion. Roxas caught it, uncapping the lid and taking a grateful swig. "Actually, now that you're here, there's something you all need to know."

Mickey suddenly looked very serious. Leon gave a nod to show that he understood.

"What is it?" Minnie asked, seeing their faces.

"Twilight Town is gone." Mickey said. "I noticed it on the way here. It's vanished from the map completely."

" _What?"_ Roxas said, clenching the small bottle in his hand. He looked as if someone had just slapped him in the face.

He wasn't the only one, either. Everyone there had a reason to be upset.

"What about Donald and Goofy?" Daisy looked downright alarmed. "They're still on that world! Who knows where they could be now?"

"And Jiminy too." Minnie added softly.

"We don't know what happened, or why." Mickey said. "All we can do is keep goin' after the Organization and hope we find something, or that it comes back on its own. Without knowing anything, that's all we can do."

"Then find Ansem, the Organization, or whoever else you need to in order to get to the bottom of this!" Daisy said.

"Now you're talking." Leon said, uncrossing his arms. "I think the thing to do would be for us to go back to Hollow Bastion. If there's a lead, that's where we'll find it. And we can see if Merlin's theory about Ansem having a secret computer lab is true. We're still investigating that part of the castle." He turned to Roxas. "You're welcome to come too, of course."

"Um…" Roxas still wasn't sure.

"Look." Leon said. "You helped save this place, right? You'll be accepted easily enough. Cid's a raving lunatic half the time, and people like him…usually…"

"Well, I know I'm in." Riku said. "You're right. Hollow Bastion is the place to be right now."

Mickey nodded his agreement.

"Yeah." Roxas said. "Okay, why not?"

Riku walked up to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "We've got our work cut out teaching you how to get your old moves back." He smirked.

"Yeah, laugh it up." Roxas said. "Just wait until I beat you again."

"I'll believe that one when I see it." Riku said, walking past him and out of the room with a dismissive air.

"That guy has got some serious ego problems." Roxas muttered.

Mickey came up beside him. "Ready to go?"

Roxas smiled a little. He couldn't explain it, but Sora's friends were growing on him a little bit.

"Yeah." He said.

They started to leave, Leon walking out behind them.

"…but, uh, Your Majesty? You might want to get someone to fix the damage in my room. See, the Heartless attacked me and things got kinda out of hand…"


	10. Cricket's The Name

And so, Leon, Mickey, Riku, and Roxas were on their way to Hollow Bastion with renewed determination and a growing sense of unexpected camaraderie. The Organization's plans were going as smooth as they could ever want; and meanwhile, Maleficent was forming evil plans of her own. Twilight Town was missing in action- and Goofy, Donald, and DiZ along with it. Minnie had included Jiminy in with that count when no one else did- after all, she was the one who had assigned him to go with the group in the first place to write down everything that happened. Her love for keeping accurate records and collecting tales of adventure had gotten him into this mess, so it is natural that she would be the one to remember his peril too. He could have gone back to his home world after Sora restored everything…but instead he was trapped away in some vague Who-Knows-Where along with Donald and Goofy.

Or so she thought.

The truth was, he had ended up somewhere far different from that.

He was with Sora.

When Naminé had sealed Sora in a pod to sleep the first time, Jiminy had stayed safely inside Sora's hood just like he always did throughout their travels. To him, it didn't make sense for Naminé to have another whole pod to monitor when he'd be perfectly comfortable staying where he was. When Sora was moved to DiZ's mansion, nothing changed. And when Organization XIII had decided to take Sora into their stronghold, they completely overlooked the sleeping stowaway in Sora's hood. Even when they'd given him different clothes to wear, Jiminy had merely woken up enough to decide that it wasn't time to get up yet and sought a better place to sleep.

Namely, within the mass of Sora's spiky hair.

He slept on, not knowing anything about where he was or what was going on. Sometimes being the most forgotten member of Sora's group had its benefits.

But Jiminy, like Sora, Donald, and Goofy, could not sleep forever.  _Unlike_ them, he was neither held back by Naminé's power nor sealed away from the light and sound that drifted by him.

So it was now that his brain sent him a message, telling him that it was high time he woke up and took a look at what was going on around him.

Jiminy slowly opened his eyes, squinting dazedly for a moment in the harsh whiteness of the room. At first he didn't notice much of anything at all, except that he was warm and comfortable and he didn't want to move from this spot.

Then he noticed that the stuff he was laying on that was so comfortable was Sora's hair. The spiky mess was unmistakable, as was the distant, slow breathing he could hear. That was slightly odd; Jiminy usually didn't choose to sleep anywhere near Sora, as the boy had a tendancy to move a lot in his sleep and would more than likely roll over him without a second thought. The occasional nap during one of their long expeditions through a world was all very well, but it felt like he had been asleep for a very long time.

 _I'll just have to ask Sora where we are now._ He thought, sitting up with a stretch and a yawn.  _I'll have to update my Journal if anything happened while I was asleep._

That decided, Jiminy rummaged around nearby to find his hat and umbrella. The going was difficult, as Sora's hair had an icky, oily feel to it.

 _Sora really needs to wash his hair._  Jiminy thought, wrinkling his nose.  _It feels like it hasn't been washed in months!_

Cautiously, he stuck his head out and took a look around. Sure enough, the surroundings were completely unknown to him. Unease crept its way into his heart as he spotted the white bars that made up one of the walls. It looked as if they were locked in a strange prison cell. Even more worrying was the fact that Donald and Goofy were nowhere to be seen. The only other person there, in fact, was a timid-looking girl drawing pictures at a desk beside the bed. She looked beaten and very sad, and something about her was vaguely familiar to Jiminy. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, though, and he figured that she probably deserved to be locked up in a cell as much as he and Sora did. How in all the worlds had they gotten into this predicament?

Jiminy slid down to Sora's pillow and waded through the cushy softness that he kept sinking into. The accommodations were oddly comfortable for a prison…

"Sora!" Jiminy whispered, tugging on Sora's ear. He didn't want to attract the attention of the girl until he know exactly what was going on. "How can you sleep at a time like this? Wake up!"

Sora didn't wake, grunt, or stir. He didn't even twitch.

Jiminy's feeling of worry increased. It wasn't like Sora to be such a heavy sleeper. It was true that he was often reluctant to get up in the morning, but he would usually just grumble and roll over. His lack of response was very worrying, and Jiminy was starting to suspect foul play.

"Sora!" he said desperately, pulling on his ear as hard as possible.

The girl gave a start and looked up. "Who-?"

She looked over to the bars. Jiminy covered his mouth with his hands. He'd done it now.

 _But maybe I should talk to her. She might know what's going on._ Jiminy thought as the girl looked around in confusion for the source of the voice. She finally turned to look at Sora. Jiminy was about to say something, but she spotted him first. They stared at one another.

"Ah…" Jiminy started awkwardly.

" _Jiminy?"_ the girl whispered in disbelief, standing up and coming over to him. "You've been here this whole time!" she acted as if she was surprised to see him, and yet she knew his name. This was really confusing him.

"Uh…do I know you?" Jiminy said. "I don't know how long I've been here. I don't even know where this is!" he narrowed his eyes. "You look kinda familiar, but-"

The girl suddenly gave a quick gasp, cutting him off.

"Quick! You need to hide!" she scooped him up, opened up a desk drawer, and dropped him inside before even had time to protest. She left the drawer open a tiny slit so he could breathe, and sat down at the desk to resume her drawing. A split second later, Jiminy heard a rip in the air as a dark portal opened and a figure dressed in a long black coat stepped into the cell.

 _And there's the bad guy. I knew we were in some kind of trouble._ Jiminy thought grimly.

The man in the coat had sandy blonde hair and looked slightly nervous for some reason.

"Uh, hi, Naminé." He said, and the girl's momentarily frightened look dissolved into a smile.

"Hello, Demyx." She said, turning around in her chair toward him. "What's going on?"

"Ah…actually, I'm on duty." He said awkwardly. "Superior's orders and all that, you know. We're supposed to all take turns."

"Oh." Naminé suddenly looked downcast. She stood up and picked her sketchbook off the desk, handing it to Demyx, who looked apologetic.

"I never thought Xemnas would trust you enough to put you on guard duty." Naminé said. "But then, I never expected him to let Axel come near me at all either."

"That's how he is." Demyx said in a low voice. "The best way to weed out slackers or potential traitors is to put them in tempting situations. I'm pretty sure that Saïx or someone is going to make rounds next so that they can make sure that my 'ridiculous inclination to failure' doesn't let you slip in some stray memory they don't want him to have. I got a big lecture yesterday for letting that guy Beast chase me off. I reckon now they're going to send in someone with a little more grit to deal with that job." He gave a shrug and a laugh.

"How horrible." Naminé said softly.

Demyx cleared his throat and flipped open the sketchbook. Jiminy could only glimpse each picture as it was turned, but what he saw was enough to increase his disquiet and confusion even more. There were only a few pictures there, and most of them were of…

"Kairi." Demyx said and closed the sketchbook. "Why?"

Naminé looked anxious. "That's allowed, right? Xemnas said I could let him recognize whoever I wanted."

"Yeah, he did." Demyx assured her. "But…" he handed the sketchbook back and said softly, "what's the point of doing that when he's never going to see her again?"

There was quiet for a moment. Jiminy's heart felt wrenched. Who  _were_  these people? What had they done to Sora?

 _Wake up, Sora!_ He urged silently, willing with all his might that the boy would show some signs of life.

"I don't believe that." Naminé said strongly.

Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. Both she and Demyx gave a quick furtive glance around, as if both feared being overheard.

 _Was I wrong before?_ Jiminy wondered.  _The coat certainly looks ominous enough…but he doesn't really seem like a bad guy…_

Sora still hadn't moved one bit.

"Just be careful." Demyx said in a half-whisper. "You know I'm too chicken to pull some crazy stunt to get you out of trouble. That's Axel's gig, not mine. And from what I can tell, something has got even him acting not like himself."

Naminé nodded sadly and Demyx vanished into a portal of darkness.

"Who was that?" Jiminy asked instantly as Naminé opened the desk drawer and allowed him to climb up into her hand.

"Demyx, a member of Organization XIII." Naminé's face was heavy with some incomprehensible sadness. "It's very complicated to explain, but the Organization is planning to use Sora for their own goals. They brought him here, but I don't think they know that you came here too."

"So this…'Organization'…they kidnapped Sora and made it to where he can't wake up?"

Naminé looked down and trembled.

"Actually…I did that. I have these…abilities. They're making me use them to keep Sora asleep and slowly erase almost all of his memories."

Jiminy jumped when a fat teardrop landed on his head.

"There now, don't cry!" he said, sweeping off his top hat and shaking it free of moisture. "It's not your fault. I'm not sure what's going on here, but I can tell that you're in just as much danger as we are. Don't worry. With the two of us, we can think of a way to save you  _and_ Sora! Right?"

Naminé only gave a heavy little laugh and a hiccup. "You trust me already, and you don't know anything." She wiped her eyes.

"Alright then, explain it to me." Jiminy hopped down onto the desk. "Stuck in here, we've got nothing but time, right? Tell me everything."

Naminé gave a tiny smile. "It's a longer story than you think."

"Well, I'm a good listener." Jiminy settled down beside a tipped over box of crayons, laying his top hat and umbrella beside him and crossing his arms.

Naminé looked at him for a moment. Jiminy could be exactly the kind of break she was hoping for. If they could find a way for him to escape, he could ruin the Organization's plans before they had a chance to inflict any irreversible damage on Sora.

"Okay." Naminé said seriously, sitting in her chair. "It all started right after Sora sealed the Door to Darkness…"

* * *

"…and if I use this, and that…" Hades murmured to himself, pacing around his chamber, "Ol' Jerkules won't know what hit him!"

"Talking to yourself again, Hades?"

Hades jumped and turned around to see Maleficent standing at the door of his chamber.

"Why, Maleficent, my sweet!" he replied in a clearly false cheerful tone. "Long time, no see! But could you mind coming back from the random recesses of nowhere some other time? I'm kinda busy right now. See my secretary, maybe we can pencil in an appointment somewhere…"

"Witty as ever, I see." Maleficent said smoothly. "I hate to interrupt you in your ever-useless pursuit of the local hero, but I have some rather interesting news that you may want to hear."

"Whatever it is, keep me out of it. I'm through." Hades snapped. "The last time I agreed to help you, I ended up stuck with a bunch of idiots that I had to work with, not to mention the infuriating Keyblade Master that ruined my plans!"

"I understand your frustration." Maleficent said. "But you must listen. If we don't do something very soon, that Keyblade Master you referred to will be a bigger threat to you than ever."

"Oh yeah?"

"Indeed." Maleficent frowned imperiously. "Have you ever heard of a group called Organization XIII?"

"Heard of them?" Hades said angrily. "Those punks came down here once trying to get Hercules to turn into a Heartless! They didn't respect me at all, either. Eventually I had to kick them out using force. Because of them, I can't go anywhere! At least not until I finish off Blunderboy myself, or they'll be right back here again."

"Yes, they are nothing but a group of pests. I can't make them into Heartless either, so they're not even useful." Maleficent said. "Now, I know that you probably want revenge on Sora just as I do. The problem is, this Organization has them in their clutches, as well as a means of controlling him."

"Well, that's just great." Hades said sarcastically.  _"Just_ great. Thanks for the tip. Now go away."

"Just a moment." Maleficent said. "There is a way we can ensure that they won't have a chance to use him. And if they do, we have the perfect way to counter them. All it takes is a minimal amount of work on your part."

Hades sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "Fine. I'm listening."

"You must find someone. It doesn't matter who… just someone that will be able to get close to Sora's Nobody."

"Sora's Nobody?"

"Yes…apparently he became a Heartless shortly after defeating me." Maleficent's lips narrowed into a firm line at recalling her defeat. "At any rate, the Organization took him in and gave him the name Roxas. Something happened, though, and now he's running around with King Mickey and that boy Riku. I can only surmise that he switched sides for some reason. If we can get close enough to capture him…I'm sure that he could prove useful."

Hades looked at her for a little while, rubbing his chin.

"So…all I have to do is find someone to get close to this guy, and have him brought to you when the time is right?" Hades summarized.

"Yes." Maleficent said simply. "I know that you have admirable skill in getting others to do as you wish. Use any means you find necessary to get this done. I encourage you to have fun with it."

"Now that, I can do." Hades said, smirking smugly at the flattery. "A hidden traitor in the midst of all the good guys- I like that. Even better if it's someone they know. Someone they won't expect. I think I might know a good one…it'll be tricky, but…"

Maleficent smiled to herself as Hades became lost in his own plans of trickery. She had every confidence that he would be able to come up with something exquisitely evil. Even if he had yet to best Hercules, he had so far managed to successfully manipulate several people with uncanny ability. Roxas was as good as hers.


	11. Onward to Hollow Bastion

"…We checked all the areas around the town, and everything seemed pretty normal. We thought that the Heartless activity might increase, but so far things have been pretty calm…"

Mickey sat at the Gummi's controls, listening silently as Leon and Riku communicated with Aerith via radio. Roxas sat in a seat beside him, keeping an eye on the world map. He had maintained an enigmatic silence ever since they had departed from Disney Castle and he volunteered to watch the map. Mickey kept glancing over at him, but Roxas' grimly thoughtful expression never changed, and his gaze never shifted from the stubbornly unchanging map.

"What's the matter?" Mickey asked him. Roxas crossed his arms.

"The Organization attacked Twilight Town, and then Maleficent attacked the castle. Next thing you know, Twilight Town is gone," Roxas frowned down at the luminous screen. "I can't help but think it had to do with one of them."

"Speaking of Heartless…" Leon said from behind him, walking away from the radio to stand in the control area, "It's fairly normal in Hollow Bastion for small packs of Heartless to sneak their way into the town. But lately we've seen some gathering around the base of the old castle. Thousands of them, all in that one spot. We don't know what's going on there, but as long as they stay out of the town, we won't have to worry about it. Things aren't going to stay quiet forever, though. You might have to fight…whether you're ready to or not."

"That's okay." Roxas said. "It's just like at Disney Castle. If anything happens, I'll help. It's going to be twice as dangerous now with Maleficent and the Organization on the move. This fight is far from over."

"Well said. Here." Leon tossed something at him, and Roxas caught it. He looked at the object in his hand. It was a flat piece of silver carved into the shape of a lion's head.

"What is it?" Roxas asked.

"Can't you tell? It's a keychain for the Keyblade. Everyone helped make it after our memories returned. We call it 'Sleeping Lion'- an updated version of the Lionheart keychain we made before. After all, you're going to need a better weapon than the Kingdom Key, right?"

"Are…you sure?" Roxas said uncomfortably, examining the keychain. "I mean, you guys must have made this for Sora…"

"We made it to help Sora." Leon said. "And you want to help him, too, even if you don't know it yet. So right now, the best way for us to help him… is to help you."

 _Sure,_  he thought. Roxas clenched the keychain tightly in his hand. For what felt like the hundredth time, he wondered what would happen if they ever managed to set Sora free.

"Come on, let's see how it works." Mickey encouraged.

Roxas focused and tapped into that little part of his mind that summoned the Keyblade, this time imagining it with the Sleeping Lion keychain attached.

The Keyblade flashed into Roxas' hand, its familiar rush of warmth running through him. The grayscale Sleeping Lion was a good bit longer than the Kingdom Key and slightly heavier. Roxas could feel the definite difference in power, though.

"Thank you." He said softly. Leon nodded and walked back over to where Riku was to see what other news had come in from Hollow Bastion.

Sleeping Lion flitted away and Roxas put the keychain into his pocket. In his mind he was going over all the things he had seen and done and said since he'd found his small world being ripped apart at the seams.

_Have I chosen my Other's path after all?_

How ironic.

_No. It's not quite the same._

Roxas slumped back in his chair with a small sigh and let one arm hang lazily over the side, swinging it a little. He closed his eyes. Even with Riku's hi-potion, the consecutive battles and lack of sleep were wearing him down. He knew that everyone else was probably exhausted too, and he was looking forward to a nice long rest in Hollow Bastion before doing anything else. The mere thought of facing down any more Heartless right now made him ache. He wasn't even sure if he was up to going back into his cabin when they arrived to fetch his bag…

Roxas' fingertips brushed against something cloth and he jumped. He opened his eyes and sat very still.

No way… there was just no way…

He sat up quickly and looked over the side, the same cold prickling he'd felt before shooting down his spine as he saw his bag, the one he had just been thinking about getting, sitting there, propped up beside the seat.

' _Is this some kind of joke?'_ he wanted to shout, but he could only manage a stunned "Uh."

"Preparing to enter into Darkness." Mickey said.

Dizziness washed over Roxas as the darkness swallowed the ship whole. He gripped the sides of his chair tightly, the rushing cold seeping through him just as it had when the Heartless had pierced through his chest and he thought… he heard… a voice…

_Progeny of darkness, come_

_Back to the eternal darkness_

_For the heart of light_

_Shall unseal the path._

_Eternal…darkness…_

_Come…_

All of Roxas' thoughts, his confusion, became consumed and lost within the fog of his rapidly waning consciousness.

* * *

Far away, on another world, a pair of tawny-red eyes opened.

The young man lay there on a hard, flat, and dusty surface. He sat up slowly.

The world around was pale and sickly. The room was circular, and a wide marble chair was the only furniture it featured.

With difficulty, the young man slid off the circular platform he'd been laying on and stumbled over to a huge, circular hole that served as a window. Far, far below he could see a wide expanse of lazily swirling mist, through which a narrow stone bridge twisted. Deep within the sinister valley's depths, a greenish light glowed.

"Where…am I?" he said with a shaking voice. He looked at his hands, and they were a perfectly normal pair of hands he took a few horrified steps backward- and ran into something solid.

"A little  _unsteady_  on our feet, are we?" a smooth voice said, and a large hand with sharp, pointed fingers landed on his shoulder.

He whirled around to see a freakishly tall being clad in a black toga, with- was it possible?- blue flames sprouting from his head.

"W-who are you?"

"Hades, Lord of the Dead, at your service." He bowed. "And this," he gave a wide, sweeping gesture around at everything, "is my Underworld. In other words, not your world."

The young man looked startled, and even a little frightened. "Another world?"

" _Great_ , you catch on quickly." Hades said, leading him by the shoulder to the raised platform in the middle and making him sit. "I've got a little job for you. See, a colleague of mine wanted a little favor, someone to help her with a little search…"

"No."

" _What?"_ Hades seethed.

"This has nothing to do with me. Change me back to normal and let me go home."

"Why you-!" Hades flared bright orange for a second before cooling down and taking a deep breath.

"Obviously, you don't understand the position you're in." he said, pacing lazily over to the window. "After all, you don't even know about the great deal I'm offering you yet. And I assure you, you won't refuse. After all, if you do, you'll never see home again…" Hades casually examined his nails, "And your old buddy Sora will probably die…"

The young man raised his eyes to look at Hades. "Sora?"

"Thaaat's right!" Hades held up a finger and smirked. "All we need is for you to help us find him and rescue him from the bad guys holding him captive! Now, I know what you're thinking. Why would a guy like me even care what happens to ol' Keyboy? And, you know, you're absolutely right." Hades sat down in his chair. "Sora has been a thorn in my side for a little while now. But the fact is, the people that have him are my enemies too. They're ruining the market for inter-world terrorization. Every time my colleagues and I go to a world looking to spread some Heartless, they've already been there! The last thing I need is for them to team up with the Keyblade punk. Problem is, we can't just go up to them and say 'Hey, you stole our protagonist!' right?"

"So what exactly do you want  _me_  to do about it?"

Hades put his chin in his hand, leaning on one elbow.

"When a person loses their heart to the Heartless, sometimes they leave a body behind that continues to move and think on its own. These Heartless shells are called Nobodies. Organization XIII, the group that has Sora, is made up of Nobodies."

"And…"

"And, Sora has a Nobody of his own. His name's Roxas. Supposedly looks a lot like him. Now, Roxas should know all about how to find Sora and get him back. What I want  _you_  to do is try to get close to him, find out what he knows…and, when the time comes, lead him into our trap."

There was a pause. The young man frowned.

"I…I don't know. I don't think I can do that."

"Sure you can. They'll know you, it won't be suspicious. Besides, it's not like you have a choice…" Hades looked into his eyes, staring as if trying to bore holes through him. "After all, it would be awful of you to just sit back and let Sora get killed when you could have helped him."

There was stillness, and a silence.

"It's not like you to be so creul…or is it?" Hades smirked. "After all, it wouldn't be the first time your thoughtlessness caused someone to die."

A flash of pain flitted across the young man's face before he jerked his gaze away from Hades' sharply, as if physically pulling himself from his grip. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes.

"I'll do it." He said quietly. "But only for Sora's sake."

" _Won_ derful!" Hades clapped his hands together. "Let's start with the preparations, then. First, here's what your backstory's gonna be…"

* * *

"He passed out?" Yuffie said incredulously, looking over to where Roxas lay on the bed in Merlin's house. "I thought that Nobodies had…you know… extra special dark-resistance."

"They do." Riku said. He, Mickey, Leon, Aerith, and Merlin were all sitting around a table in front of Cid's computer. It had been put there for the meeting earlier and not yet removed. Cid was sitting at the computer, and Yuffie was pacing around. "Believe me, Roxas is no exception." Riku went on. "But this is the second time he's done it now. He was fine landing at the castle; we just thought that when we took him from Twilight Town he'd forgotten how to handle it."

"Maybe he forgot again." Yuffie suggested.

"Well, it's possible that he was just worn out from all the fighting." Leon said. "We all are."

"Yeah…" Mickey yawned. "I know that I'll be ready for a nap soon."

"You should all rest." Aerith said. "We've got everything here under control for now."

"Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I'm ready for a little lunch before anything else." Cid said. "How about the Cid Special?"

Nearly everyone groaned, but Riku said, "Okay."

"Are you sure, Riku?" Leon asked. "Cid's cooking is…well…"

Riku shrugged. "I'm hungry. I'm not exactly picky to begin with, either."

"Now just what's that supposed to mean?" Cid raised an eyebrow.

"Riku." Yuffie said very seriously. "You don't understand. You may be all big, brawny, abs-of-steel guy now or whatever, but-"

" _Abs of steel?"_ the borrowed face of Xehanort's Heartless was twisted into an odd expression, somewhere between incredulity and embarrassment.

"Ah, don't listen to her." Cid said. "She's just sore at me because I used her cheesecake as a secret ingredient once. We're all hungry, so I'm fixing something! Be back in a jiff." Cid left Merlin's house before anyone could make any further comments or protests.

"It's alright." Mickey said. "I'm not too picky either. In the meantime…" his tone changed as if he had suddenly thought of something. "We might be stayin' here awhile while we investigate Ansem the Wise. Is there a hotel here in Hollow Bastion?"

"Yes." Aerith said. "It's pretty small, but it's comfortable. Leon spends so much time here at Merlin's and around in town that he just sleeps there instead of getting a place of his own. I suppose when the restoration gets finished…" she shrugged.

"She's always hinting that I need to stop living like a vagabond in my own hometown." Leon said with a small laugh.

Aerith shot him a look but continued, "Anyway, me and Yuffie live in a house down in the village. Cid lives in an apartment over the weapon shop. Mr. Scrooge owns all those shops, you know, and he and Cid are actually good friends since they both know so much about Gummi systems and engineering. That's probably where he went to go get some food to make his special stew with. He says that he likes living in the marketplace- that's where all the action is."

"You know, you guys should go ahead and get settled in so you won't have to do it later." Yuffie said. "We'll bring the party to you! And you can get a good look at the new, spruced up Hollow Bastion."

"That's a good idea." Aerith said. "I can show them the way to the hotel."

"What about Roxas?" Mickey asked.

"Ah, leave him be." Merlin said, standing up from the table. "He'll be up and about soon enough, I'm sure. Young people always have a way of bouncing right back up. I'm going with you to the hotel." He added.

"Okay." Aerith said as she stood up- Mickey and Riku followed her lead. "You guys just head on down whenever Cid gets back, then."

"Sure." Yuffie said, and Leon nodded.

It was true that when Riku and Mickey had been to Hollow Bastion the last time, they hadn't had a chance to look around. Things had really changed for Hollow Bastion in the past year. Just as when he'd had to meet Leon and the gang, Riku wasn't sure how to feel about being back on this world again. The place had been the center of his knot of troubles- it was the place where his darkness had been fed and carefully molded into something monstrous. But he realized that he could not fault Hollow Bastion for its connection to the darkness. The heart of this world resonated with his, perhaps irreversibly. Like him, it was striving for light, even if the darkness still lingered in its outside appearance. A high wall of stone surrounded the entire town, a constant visual reminder of the Heartless' continued presence; and on the horizon, the ruins of an evil place could be seen, a blemish on the dreamily painted sky.

And yet…within the confines of the stone perimeter, Hollow Bastion was becoming something with its own brand of peaceful beauty. Decorative waterfalls added the soft sound of moving water to the air, and the trees and other plants flourished from the tops of every stone ledge. The remnants of the castle postern rose high above everything, the center of the little enclosed circle.

Aerith and Merlin led them up the stairs to the passageway leading to the bailey. The stone border of the town was hollow on the inside, and it made a sort of tunnel that led directly to the current reconstruction site if one walked far enough. Aerith, Merlin, Mickey, and Riku weren't walking all the way to the bailey, though. After about thirty yards of dark tunnel, they came to an opening on the right, an archway where sunlight streamed in.

"Welcome to the village." Aerith said cheerfully.

Small cabins, all with a half-finished look about them, clustered around the cobbled road that wound its way through them. Above, the white form of the item shop could be seen. Merlin's house was hidden behind the wall that separated the village from the borough.

"Hollow Bastion is separated into different sections to make it more defendable." Merlin explained as they walked through the village, the two guests looking around with interest. "The only way to move to another section is by way of the perimeter, like how we came. Automatic gates inside the passageway help increase security. There is a single gate for every partition, as well."

"The homes around here are less evolved than the security." Aerith said sadly. "The majority of people who lived on this world never made it back. Only the ones who escaped the darkness came back here when Sora restored the worlds."

"I wonder why Kairi went back to the islands when everything went back to the way it was." Riku wondered aloud, half to himself as he looked around at all the quaint little houses. "This is the world she's from, I mean, she wouldn't have been able to leave if the world's barriers hadn't broken in the first place…"

"Well…they say home is where the heart is." Aerith said, looking back at him with a soft smile. "Her love for the islands probably overrode whatever pull this place may have had on her. Hollow Bastion holds a very painful memory for her." She looked back to the path ahead and added, "As it does for you. You probably don't like being here."

"No." Riku said quickly, slightly flustered. "I didn't mean- I don't mind it now." He said honestly. "It would be stupid to let something like that hold me back. Memories can't hurt you."

Mickey, Aerith, and Merlin all smiled.

* * *

"You know, he doesn't really look all that much like Sora." Yuffie said, poking Roxas in the side of the face in hopes that he would wake up. "I mean, Sora has got some crazy hair, but this guy's pushing it. Plus, it's not even the same color. Do you think he dyes it?"

"You've seen weirder hair before." Leon said.

"True." Yuffie admitted.

"What gets me is that he's a Nobody-  _and_  a former member of Organization XIII. He looks just like a regular kid." Leon said in a low voice. "I wonder if we can really trust him."

"Come on, Leon!" Yuffie pulled up a stool to sit beside the bed. "He's  _half of Sora._  I don't exactly think he's going to turn out to be evil."

"Even Sora has darkness in his heart." Leon said. "Or he wouldn't have been able to become a Heartless in the first place." He gave a sigh. "Back at the castle I fought alongside Roxas. I think that he is a good person. But something is making him uneasy, something he won't talk about. He is fully capable of handling the darkness, yet he is letting himself become affected by it. He doesn't know whether or not he wants to help us, and he doesn't fully know why he left the Organization. His memories must be jumbled and very confused. Think about it- he has three lives that he remembers. A lifetime of memories in Twilight Town, his time in the Organization, _and_ all of Sora's life. On top of all that, he has no heart to tell him what is the right way to go. You may think of him as half of Sora now, Yuffie, but when you meet him you'll understand why none of us can think of what to do with him. It's hard to get to know someone and think of them as just a half."

Yuffie looked at Leon questioningly, but shrugged.

"If you say so." She said. She resumed poking Roxas' face. "Hey! Wake up! I  _really_  want to meet you now!"

"I'm back!" Cid called, walking in with a large bowl and various eating utensils. "Huh? Where did everyone go?"

"Down to the hotel." Yuffie said without turning around. "You guys can go on ahead."

"Heh. Your loss." Cid said.

He and Leon left.

"…Come  _on!_  Don't make me use shuriken on you…"


	12. Axel's Resolve

Light.

Every around Roxas was so white that it seemed to glow on its own accord, a traceless source of illumination that wrapped him in its merciless glare.

"Who are you?"

Roxas whirled around. There, standing a few feet away, was Sora. He was looking at Roxas with a vague, sleepy expression. He was completely clothed in white.

"You seem familiar." Sora said. "But…I don't think I've ever met you before." He looked confused. "How does that work?"

"Um…" Roxas had no idea what to say. "No…we've never met…"

"Nice to meet you." Sora replied sleepily. "This is a kinda weird place, isn't it? What did you say your name was again?"

"I never said it." Roxas scratched the back of his head. "It's Roxas."

"Oh, that's good. I was thinking you might not have a name, like me." He tilted his head. "You look off. All fuzzy, like I can't see."

"Oh. Um…okay…but, you do have a name. It's Sora." Roxas was starting to feel a little confused.

"Really?" Sora gave a puzzled frown. "That sounds strange, but maybe you're right."

"You don't remember your own name?" Roxas said sharply. What was going on here? "Well, what  _do_  you remember?"

"Uh…" Sora's blue eyes drifted past Roxas as if distracted. "I don't know. Nothing, I guess. Hey, do you hear that voice?"

"Wha-"

" _Hey! Roxas! Any century now. Wake up!"_

"Someone's calling you." Sora looked up and around in puzzlement as if trying to locate the source of the voice.

"I'm sleeping." Roxas realized. He laughed. "Oh. That's why I can talk to you."

"You're vanishing." Sora looked at him, suddenly looking more awake for a moment, eyes wide. "Will you ever come back?"

"Hellooooooo…?" Yuffie said.

Roxas blinked. He was staring up at wooden rafters. He sat up quickly and stared at Yuffie, confused.

"Yuffie?"

"Well, at least  _he_  didn't mistake me for someone else." She said, turning her head to talk to Aerith, who stood and started walking toward them.

"What was that you were saying, Roxas?" Aerith said gently, sitting down at the end of the bed. "Will who come back?"

"Uh…" Roxas turned red. "Um. Just a dream, I guess. I don't remember." He glanced around. "Why am I here?" he paused, then added, "Where  _is_ here?"

"We're in Hollow Bastion. Riku and everyone said you kinda…blacked out on the way here." Yuffie answered him.

"On the way? What…oh yeah." He looked down at his hands, trying to remember, trying to sort through the cluttered and confused thoughts.

"You've been out since yesterday." Aerith said, watching him closely. "King Mickey and Riku went out to sweep all known worlds for any new leads on the Ansem Reports. They knew it would take a little while, so they went on without you. Everyone else is at the reconstruction site."

"Oh. Well. Um…" Roxas turned to put his feet on the floor. "Do you know when they're going to be back?"

"Before too long." Yuffie hopped up and went to the door. "I think Mickey wants to ask you about what happened."

Roxas had a sinking feeling. How could he possibly explain what had happened?  _He_  wasn't even sure what was going on…and whatever it was, he didn't really want to share it. First Naminé's sketches had appeared in his room, and then his bag had come to him in the same mysterious way. He was pretty certain that Mickey had not added that extra page to the Ansem Reports- and now he knew that he could talk to Sora in his dreams. Should he  _tell_ them all of that? He knew that he should. Riku would be furious if he knew how much Roxas was holding back.

And yet, a part of him…a very large part...remained defiant. He never agreed to help find Sora. If he didn't look out for himself, no one would. There were plenty of people looking out for Sora- let them figure it out on their own. He had no obligation to the Keyblade Master.

"Roxas?" Aerith leaned forward, trying to get a look at his face.

He avoided her eye. "I don't know what happened."

"Riku said that he's going to teach you how to control the darkness."

"Really?" This time Roxas looked at her. "I knew that Leon said I would be able to train here, but…" he trailed off. He couldn't say what he was thinking; that learning to use the darkness meant that they couldn't stop him from leaving them anymore. Why would they let that happen?

"They said that there's a possibility that your trouble with remembering yourself is that you've been trying to block out all the remnants of your connection to the Organization." Aerith said seriously, perhaps understanding his unasked question. "And that's never a good thing. Your past is a part of who you are, and fighting against it so much will always hold you back in the long run. It's something that Riku's learned very well. He wants to help you."

"Why?" Roxas snorted before his better sense could prevent him from saying it. He stopped for a moment. "I'm sorry." He said quickly. "I didn't mean to sound so bitter. It's just..." he frowned. "He has every reason to  _not_ want me to learn how to come and go as I want."

"Maybe." Aerith said softly. "I don't think I know everything about the relationship between you and Sora and Riku. But I can say…" she smiled a little. "You can never predict what the heart will lead someone to do."

 _Make even Riku trust me?_ He thought sarcastically. Somehow he doubted it, but… Aerith was right, there was no way to tell.

"Well, it looks like Yuffie's already gone on ahead." Aerith said, standing up and neatly smoothing down her skirt. "Are you coming?"

"To do what?" Roxas asked.

"Oh, well, today I think we were going to help with the reconstruction of the village- they're putting up some homes right at the base of the castle postern. All the hard manual work is covered, but there's still things to do- Cid and Merlin are scoping out the area in preparation for expanding he security grid, and Leon's probably working on his pet project- a school for the village." She explained with a smile. "He's probably put in more hours on that thing than anyone. The rest of us just help out wherever it's needed. Yuffie always says that there's no point in having a lazy committee. It gives the people here hope to see us taking such an active role, and it makes them feel safe knowing we're there in the event of a Heartless attack."

"Yeah, I'll come." Roxas decided, standing. "I want to see Hollow Bastion like it is now… and while I'm here I should at least do what I can. Do you know how long Riku and Mickey plan on staying here?" he asked as they walked out into the borough.

"As long as it takes, I suppose." Aerith shook her head. "They're just waiting for the next lead, and whatever happens then will happen. Neither the Organization nor Maleficent are likely to stay quiet for long."

"Maleficent was the one that brought the Heartless to this world in the first place." Roxas said, remembering suddenly.

"I know." Aerith said simply.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean… sorry." Roxas became sheepish as he realized how tactless that had been. "I shouldn't keep blurting out the first thing that pops into my head."

Aerith looked amused. "At least you're remembering things– that's a good sign." She added quietly, "Leon really was right about you."

"What?" Roxas said.

"Nothing," They stepped into the shadow of the long passageway to the bailey. "You know, on our way through the village we might as well stop by the hotel so you can see where you'll be staying. It's rarely occupied so you'll have a choice of several rooms. It's also free for Restoration Committee cardholders, by the way."

"Restoration Committee…what?"

Grinning and seeming to have been waiting for a place to slip in this information, Aerith pulled a purple card out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Roxas examined the card.

"Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee honorary member." He flipped it over. "Roxas."

"Leon's idea." Aerith said. "We made the three of you honorary citizens of Hollow Bastion, as well. It's sort of a way of saying that you're welcome any time."

Roxas smiled.

* * *

The hotel at Hollow Bastion was designed much the same way as the one at Traverse Town had been, except that its interior was much less grand and beautiful. The person at the desk told Roxas which rooms were available, and he set off down the hall looking at the numbers on the doors. Aerith had already gone on ahead to the reconstruction site, telling him to make himself at home and come along whenever he was ready.

Roxas' impression of the village thus far was a good one; he was amazed that all this could be done in a year. And though the surroundings were a bit homely right now, the unmistakable aura that had always been a feature of Hollow Bastion came through- a sense of deepness and majesty. It was a contrast to the bright and whimsical world of Disney Castle, yet still it was pleasing. One could feel the care and devotion built into the village as if it was part of its very framework.

Roxas picked the very last room on the hall, number 12, and went on in.

The room was simple and bare, but spacious. It contained a bed, a small dresser, a chair, and a bedside table with a lamp. Everything was made of wood, and the bed was dressed with a simple, homemade-looking quilt.

"Hey, Roxas."

Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin. He'd closed the door behind him, and he hadn't heard anyone enter- Roxas whirled around to see who had spoken.

He was there, sitting in the chair in a shady corner, arms crossed and looking oddly sinister in the half-light.

"Axel." Roxas said numbly.

Axel did not smile. He looked uncharacteristically serious, even grim.

"Ansem the Wise." He said. "Is wasting away in the depths of our castle at this very moment."

"He… _what?_ " Roxas said, completely taken aback. “What are you talking about—”

"Did you really think that Xemnas was going to allow the only person who could lead you to us wander around freely?" Axel said. "It's over now. No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to find them. They'll let you keep trying, but they'll be laughing. And then, when you're no further use, they'll kill you."

He seemed to refer to the Organization half the time as 'us' and half the time as 'them'.

Roxas' throat was constricted painfully tight. He clenched his fists.

"What are you talking about?" he asked quietly. "No…further use?"

"Why don't you figure it out?" Axel said cuttingly. "After all, you would know if you hadn't just forgotten everything. How sad. But then again, you do seem to be making one piece of shit hero."

"What's wrong with you?" Roxas said angrily. "You're acting so-"

"Sora will awaken in two days."

Roxas felt winded, as if someone had just punched him in the gut. "He…Sora…Sora is…?"

"I have nothing against Sora." Axel said. "But he's long gone. He's not worth saving. You, though…" he paused. "You are."

Roxas didn't know what to say to this. "Axel…"

"But as long as you stay like this…" he said, indicating the room, and, Roxas assumed, Hollow Bastion in general, "I have to be your enemy."

"…Why?"

"Because your group is determined to eliminate the Organization." Axel said. "And as long as you stay on the path that you are, it's not worth it to leave them and have them after me, too."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Roxas was starting to sound angry again, and more than a little defiant. "Tell me that, Axel, because I would be really glad to have some sort of a clue myself."

"It depends on what you want." Axel said. "If you want to be killed trying to save your Other, then carry on. But the only way you will ever have real freedom would be to escape, or destroy everyone that wants to use you…or get a heart and find a nice world to settle down in." he added with a snort.

"That can't be the only answer." Roxas said. "I- I'll learn how to use the darkness, and I'll find my own way to live. I'll keep fighting the Heartless-"

Axel gave a sharp laugh. "Right, because that's the perfect way to keep yourself from being used."

"What do you mean?" Roxas said uneasily.

"Doesn't matter." Axel waved one hand carelessly. "The point is, if it came down to protecting your new friends or fighting the Organization, what would you do? Sooner or later they'll come for you."

Roxas didn't answer. He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but he couldn't think of the words.

"Did you…" he said slowly. "Are you the one that slipped that page in with the Ansem Reports?"

Axel raised one red eyebrow. "Ansem Reports?"

"Yeah, someone put another page in it, it was creepy…and…then there was the thing with Naminé's sketches and my bag…"

He could tell by Axel's expression that he had not done it. He looked at Roxas for a moment before shrugging. "Who knows what else out there is looking out for you. It wasn't me. But I will be watching." He smirked. "Watching to see how well you can do masquerading as someone from the light. Give my best regards to your new friends…"

"Axel–!" Roxas started, but he vanished in a swirl of darkness. Roxas stared at the spot where he had been, very shaken. What did Axel know that he would not share?

His mind was swirling with the information he had just been given.

 _Ansem the Wise has been captured._  Roxas thought quickly.  _And Sora will wake up in two days._

 _You've got to tell Mickey._ A part of him said.

 _Like Axel said, it's too late. It won't change anything._  Said another part.

Roxas had found himself in an odd situation- it was as if he held his Other's very life in his hands, and for once, had complete and total control over what was going to happen.

It gave him an almost morbid fascination to clearly see the two different possibilities- tell Mickey and use Roxas' connection with Sora to help save him, or say nothing and have them search fruitlessly for the Organization and Ansem the Wise forever- laid out in front of him like a checkerboard where he could easily lift one piece and set it down again. As he surveyed these two possibilities, he dimly appreciated that he'd finally found evidence to truly believe that he lacked a heart.

"Roxas?"

He turned and saw Aerith at his door, her face urgent. "I was hoping I'd find you still here- they found someone down at the construction site. He seems to pretty out of it and we don't know where he came from, but he did mention Sora's name. It's about the only coherent thing he's come out with. Come on down there and see if you might know who he is."

She looked at Roxas more closely and noticed that his eyes, usually a sunny blue, had taken on a tint more like chilled steel.

"What's the matter?" she asked concernedly. "You seem tense about something…"

"It's nothing. Let's go." Roxas said, walking past Aerith out into the hallway. As he did, he felt as if a lock inside him had been turned tightly shut.

* * *

When they reached the construction site, they found Leon and Yuffie standing around the newly arrived stranger, who was sitting on a pile of wooden boards and did indeed look very dazed. Aerith and Roxas approached them, and he looked up.

Roxas was certain that he had never seen this person before, nor did he even remember seeing him.

He looked like a young man, in his early twenties or so, with long, luxurious red hair and tawny eyes of a similar shade. His eyes looked permanently lined and came to sharp black points at the corners. He had on a tan-colored sleeveless top reminiscent of martial arts and pants of a lighter beige. He also had a necklace with three sharp claws on it, each separated by large wooden beads, and a single earring with a delicate-looking white feather dangling from it. A medium-length straight blade rested in a rawhide sheath at his side. All in all, it was clear that he did not come from Hollow Bastion- but where he  _had_ come from, Roxas had not a clue.

The young man's eyes widened in recognition as they came closer.

"Sora?"

Roxas stopped. He still did not know who this was, though the voice seemed bizarrely familiar.

"Sora, look. Look what happened to me." the man indicated his general person with shaking hands. "I keep trying to ask how this could happen, but nobody here knows what I'm talking about!"

"I'm not Sora. My name's Roxas." Roxas said quickly, not wishing to let this drag on and on. "I'm Sora's Nobody…do you know what that is?"

The young man looked stricken, but he nodded.

"Well then, who are you? I'd know you if Sora did. I…I don't recognize you, but you do seem familiar…"

"That's what I don't understand either. First I was home, then I was like this." He held up his hands and looked at them in disbelief, then drew them up close to his chest. "It's…it's me- Simba." He said shakily.

Roxas stared blankly at him for a long time. "What?"

"Simba?" Yuffie looked questioningly at Roxas. "Do you know him, Roxas?"

"Yeah." Roxas said, just as blankly as he looked. "He was a summon when I… I mean, when Sora fought the Heartless before."

"A summon?" Yuffie said. "I know he showed us the cute little deer one…but weren't they all…"

"Not human?" Roxas said, his face beginning to cloud over with confusion. "Yeah, neither was Simba. He's supposed to be a lion."

"A lion?" Yuffie snorted, as if expecting Roxas to say he was joking. When he did not, her smile faded. "A lion? ...Really?"

"Yeah, a lion!" Simba said. "I…I can't deal with being like this. I have no teeth, no claws… everything looks so strange and… short…" he blinked.

"Well, what happened? What led up to this?" Leon asked, clearly finding the situation strange but attempting to bring it under control. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Simba was quiet for a moment, looking at his hands again.

"I was at home, talking to my friends." He said slowly. "We were just lying back looking at the sky, you know, nothing in particular really. Then everything went dark, and…well, here I am." He shrugged, then looked surprised at the action. He gave a few more experimental shrugs, apparently for fun.

"We should ask Merlin about this." Aerith said worriedly. "It isn't normal for a lion to be randomly turned into a human and dropped onto a different world.  _Especially_ a lion with a connection to Sora."

Suddenly the walkie-talkie at Leon's side crackled.

"Riku to restoration committee." Ansem's deep voice came through the radio.

"Yes?" Leon said, unclipping it from his belt and holding it up to speak into.

"We're landing shortly. There's been a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Leon said, raising an eyebrow.

"Another world's vanished from the map."

"Which one?" Yuffie said, alarmed.

"Which one?" Leon repeated.

They all turned their heads to Simba simultaneously as the answer came crackling through.

"The Pride Lands."


	13. Reprise of the Thirteenth

"Interesting…" Merlin mumbled, rubbing his bearded chin as he surveyed Simba carefully, while Simba looked back at him with apprehension. "Yes, very interesting indeed…"

"What is it, Merlin?" Aerith said in concern.

"This is not good, I'm afraid." Merlin said in a weary voice, sitting down in his chair and pouring himself some tea. "Usually it's a simple matter to magically change one's form for short periods- Sora, Donald, and Goofy used to rely on such magic all the time to be able to go to Atlantica. However,  _this_  young man's transformation is quite as baffling as the disappearance of his world. I can't make heads or tails of it!"

"You mean, you can't change me back?" Simba said. He looked tense and worried.

"I'm afraid not- at least not until I find out what sort of magic is responsible for this."

"It's okay, Simba." Yuffie said encouragingly. "Mickey, Riku, Roxas, and Leon are all staying down at the hotel- you can stay there too until everything gets figured out." She grinned. "In the meantime, we have someone else to help us with the reconstruction projects!"

Simba looked surprised at her take on things but smiled a genuine smile- the first they'd ever seen from him.

"We can show him the way- it's about time we all turned in anyway." Mickey said. "We'll check tomorrow and see if the situation's changed any."

This was the moment Roxas had been dreading- the moment when Mickey and Riku would surely question him about his recent behavior…it probably did not help that he'd been quiet all evening, either.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired." Riku said, yawning.

He, Roxas, Simba, and Mickey (Leon had decided to linger a little longer with the rest of the committee) walked out into the dry, mild night air. Mickey walked ahead, cheerfully talking with Simba, while Roxas and Riku walked behind. Roxas was looking anywhere but beside him.

The night air was warm, but the breeze was pleasantly cool. Roxas couldn't keep his mind from drifting back to his conversation with Axel earlier. The whole thing had been so…tense, as if it was ready to combust at any given moment. There was no doubt about it, Axel had always been a hard one to figure out. He'd seemed so angry- fiercely, bitingly angry- and yet he'd helped him.

Did he  _want_  Roxas to be burdened by the decision of helping Sora's friends or abandoning them? Or did he simply want the best? Somehow Roxas had a hard time believing that. After all, Axel could have easily left well enough alone, let them keep going on this fruitless quest, let Roxas stay ignorant of the truth and remain in this comfortable illusion…

 _it's just like Riku said. You like happy lies way better than cold truth. How pathetic._ He thought savagely.

" _If you could turn back time, take everything back…everything about the Keyblade and DiZ and Sora, the Organization- if you could live back in Twilight Town with your friends…would you?"_

" _If I said no…that would be a lie."_

Did Axel know that about him, hate that about him? Roxas knew that his old self had wanted the truth, was so determined to find the truth that he turned his back on his fellow Nobodies.

He almost laughed. Surely Axel didn't  _miss_  that quality in him!

But he'd seemed bitter when he talked about Roxas' "new friends." This was a thought even more ridiculous…could he be  _jealous?_  Resentful that, after repeatedly trying to reach out to his former best friend, Mickey and the others had been the ones to save him and take him in?

Roxas did not like this train of thought- it rose up a deeply embedded fear within him, a fear that was older than his own existence. The concept was far, far too familiar.

"Roxas." Riku said in a low, rumbling tone from beside him. "We were on the Gummi ship today, and we told the Castle about the Pride Land's disappearance. Minnie asked about you."

"Me?" Roxas said, distracted. "Why?"

"You were overpowered by the darkness." Riku reminded simply.

"Oh…right. I guess that's kind of stupid, isn't it, seeing as how I'm a Nobody and all…"

"She was worried." Riku said. "Aerith is worried too, she told me that you seemed to be withdrawing into yourself."

Roxas could tell that Riku wanted him to say something, to explain. But to lie, or not?

"It's nothing for everyone to be all concerned about." Roxas muttered. "It's just that…a lot of things have changed for me in the past week. Memories have have been coming back- I suppose what started happening in Twilight Town is keeping on. That's all. It's just hard trying to sort through everything."

"Well then, maybe it will help you to learn how to master the darkness." Riku said. "Aerith told you, right?"

"Yeah." Roxas said, slightly uncomfortable. "But…well, no offense, but…I would have thought that teaching me the easiest way to escape would be dead last on your priority list."

"Escape?" Riku said, sounding frustrated. "You're not a prisoner! This isn't Twilight Town, where DiZ is marking your every move!"

"Oh, so that means you're not my jailkeeper anymore?" Roxas said, bristling quickly. "You don't care at all if I just decide to leave? Somehow I doubt that."

Mickey and Simba had stopped and looked back, hearing their voices getting louder and louder.

"Leave if you want to!" Riku said. "We don't need you. But where will you go? This is the only place you can survive, and as long as you're here, even if you won't help, I won't let you slow us down. You're weak if you can't use your natural control over the darkness. Frankly I doubt that you could even put up a fight if someone from the Organization showed up."

Roxas was forcefully reminded of Axel's attitude- them or the Organization. That's how it had to be.

"Why?" he burst out. "Why do I automatically have to fight them, just because I'm with you? Why can't I be neutral? They're after me, yeah, but some of them were my friends."

"Roxas." Mickey said gently, walking toward him. "You need to unravel your past. A Nobody's self is determined by his memories. It would be dangerous to pick any side now. You need to have every memory in place, to see everything clearly. That's the only way that you're gonna know what to do."

Simba was looking at Roxas silently, a strange and unreadable glint lingering in his tawny eyes.

"If you don't face your past, they'll use it against you." Mickey continued. "Everyone has to crawl before they can walk. How can you figure out anything when you don't even know about yourself?"

"We got something we thought might help, actually." Riku said, turning and pushing a folded-up black garment into Roxas' hands.

Disbelief flitted visibly across his face. Had the world turned upside down? Roxas could not understand. How could they possibly be stupid enough to not only promise to show him how to use the darkness, but also give him this, a coat identical to their own? They were practically begging for him to betray them to the Organization, and yet, did they know that that was something that he never had any intention of doing…?

Roxas gripped the black coat tightly.

"I was born walking." He said.

* * *

_Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger_

_For every heart until_

_The dark door opens._

Footsteps echoed across a vast and dark expanse of low ceiling and tiled walls. The place looked like an abandoned parking garage, and Roxas walked around warily past every shadow.

"For the heart of light shall open the path."

Roxas whirled around quickly.

The shadows drifted and changed form like smoke. Was it a real voice he heard, or one spoken in his mind that only he could hear?

A noise sounded nearby, and Roxas jumped. He squinted into the impenetrable darkness.

Something was there… a white vertical line… and as he looked he saw that there were more lines; they formed two parallel rectangles as if light was streaming through the cracks of double-doors. As Roxas started to walk closer, he saw that that was exactly what it was.

 _Good, now I can get out of here._  He thought with relief. He went over to the doors and tugged on the handles.

Naturally, nothing happened.

"Hey!" he called, pounding on the door. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Roxas?" a bright blue eye appeared in the tiny crack in the middle, squinting. "How did you get out there?"

"Out here?" Roxas said. "I guess that means that you're not outside…"

"Well, anyway, I don't think this door opens." Sora said. Roxas heard him give an experimental pull on the handles. "I already tried it. How did you get out? You just suddenly disappeared."

"I…don't know." Roxas leaned back on the door and slid down to the ground. "I don't know."

There was silence for a little while; Roxas stared out into the darkness and tried to figure out what was going on here.

It was too damn perfect. He was stuck in the dark- Sora was trapped in the light. Sora was oblivious, and he knew too much.

 _The heart of light shall open the path._ He turned the phrase over and over in his mind.  _That's ominous…is it some plan for Sora that we don't know about? What path? Mickey said something about paths of light…_

"Roxas?"

"What?"

"Oh. Just seeing if you were still there." Roxas heard Sora move and his voice became closer, as if he'd sat down behind him. "Hey, if you remember how to get out of here, could you tell me? It's boring here. Oh yeah, have you ever tried something called Sea Salt ice cream?"

"What? Where did that come from?" Roxas said in surprise.

"I don't know. Just wondering…earlier today I thought I'd try to figure out what foods I like, and that popped into my head. Do you know what it's like?"

"Yeah, it's good." Roxas said. "Salty and sweet at the same time."

"That does sound good."

Roxa crossed his arms in slight puzzlement and did not answer.

"I know! When we find a way out of here we can go try some! Have you remembered how to vanish yet?"

"The only way out of this place…" Roxas said slowly, coming to a realization, "Is to wake up."

"Wake up? We're asleep?"

"Yes. We're asleep." Roxas said quietly. "And you're going to wake up soon."

"Really? How do you know?"

"Someone told me." Roxas said. He added uneasily, "Um, but, when you do wake up, don't tell anyone I told you that. In fact, don't tell them anything about seeing me. And if anyone asks, lie."

Sora was silent for a moment, as if pondering that.

"Why?" he asked. "Do you think someone will ask?"

"I don't know," Roxas said truthfully. "But if anyone does, don't tell them. If they knew…" his voice trailed off slightly. As strange as it was, he didn't want to tell Sora anything that could potentially put him in danger. Or Naminé for that matter. He knew who would be blamed if Sora knew too much.

"I just need some time to figure this out," Roxas started again. "Just a little more time."

"Okay," Sora said after another pause.

Roxas could see the world around him fading rapidly.

"I'm waking up," he realized out loud.

* * *

Roxas sat up in his bed, arms folded on his knees as he thoughtfully watched the weak morning light creep across the opposite side of the room. His gaze returned to the black coat again and again. It rested atop a neatly folded pile of clothing to comlete the outfit; black gloves rested on top and boots sat on the floor.

Resisting the wardrobe change was, he admitted, largely due to irrational stubbornness. Clothes were clothes, after all, and Mickey had told him that covering every inch of the skin did wonders for traveling through the Dark Realm more comfortably, if nothing else.

He still couldn't help but feel they were mocking him, though. At least, he couldn't help but feel  _Riku_  was. Riku probably remembered more about Roxas from his Organization days than Roxas himself did. Was he hoping he'd revert back to the way he was so that he could take him out again without feeling guilty about it? Roxas shook his head. That was too paranoid, even for him. It really couldn't hurt to have better armor against the darkness… but Roxas could only imagine what Axel or one of the others would say if they saw him.

Roxas moved over to the side of the bed and put his feet down onto the wooden floorboards, shivering slightly in his boxers and T-shirt. Hollow Bastion tended to be cooler in the mornings than Disney Castle, and as he went over to the window, Roxas could see a thin mist hanging over the village.

He yawned, ruffled his hair, then glanced back at the dresser. A diamond-shaped mirror hung above it, and he thought that his reflection looked almost startlingly clear in the clean glass and fresh new light. His eyes drifted to the black clothing once again.

A small irritated growl escaping his lips, Roxas walked over to the dresser, brushed the gloves aside, and picked up the long coat. He held it up in front of him, examining its all-too-familiar details. The sun glinted off the zipper and the decorative tassels and made everything it touched a lighter shade of black.

Roxas turned and laid the coat out flat on the bed before separating the rest of the pile. Everything was set out around him, just waiting to be put on. He hesitated.

 _Don't be stupid, it's just clothes._  He told himself.  _Stop them from nagging. Who cares what the Organization thinks?_

He picked up the pair of pants.

_Yeah. Stupid._

He stepped in; one foot, then the other; he pulled them up, zipped the fly, buttoned the button, and fastened the thick belt.

_Well, that was easy._

Roxas bent down and fished around inside the boots- in the right one he found a rolled-up pair of black socks. He picked up the boots and sat down on the bed, laying them beside his feet and unrolling the socks.

The socks were long and made of some thin, light material- they extended to his knees comfortably. Next came the boots, and Roxas got them on by forcing his foot down into them then pulling. This was somewhat difficult, but eventually he got it, and Roxas then tugged his pants legs over the boots. He knew that most members of the Organization like to wear their pants tucked into their boots, but he'd always found that it looked idiotic on him.

He stood up again. He was already half-way transformed into his old look. No turning back now.

Roxas quickly peeled off his T-Shirt and tossed it aside. With the air of one about to lose his nerve, he took the thin long-sleeved black shirt and wriggled into it. Then he pulled on the gloves, securing them tightly and making a big fuss over making sure they fit perfectly.

Roxas glanced in the mirror. He already looked so different.

_Now for the last touch, right?_

He turned around to looked down at the coat.

To a being without a heart, memories became the sole acting force in what they believed and felt. When every memory of his time as Number XIII returned, how would that change Roxas?

_How could I possibly be like that again?_

Maybe that was really what he was afraid of. He hadn't seemed to care about anything really- just his obsession with finding a purpose. To suddenly not care, to not be moved by loss or inspired by the efforts of the people of Hollow Bastion, seemed horrible and unbelievable. But was that only because his memories now made him into someone with a realistic imitation of a heart?

 _What about free will?_  Roxas shook his head.  _You still have that, don't you? You can choose which memories to believe in._

Struck with a sudden idea, Roxas strode over to the desk beside the bed and pulled the drawer out. Inside the drawer were some leafs of paper and a few fountain pens. He took a sheet of paper and a pen and scribbled for a moment.

Satisfied, Roxas folded the paper and walked back in front of the bed. He flipped the coat open and tucked the folded paper into an inside pocket. He drew his hand back slowly, trailing it along the long zipper.

He lifted the coat up by the collar and slipped his right arm in, then his left, and then he shrugged the coat on, pulling it straight. Its weight was warm and familiar, and he felt an odd sense of contentment, like from the embrace of an old friend.

Roxas hooked the zipper together under his chin and zipped it most of the way down, ending it near his knees to ensure full mobility.

He stood to look in the mirror again.

Did he feel different now? Roxas considered.

No. He laughed. He was still Roxas. It was like they had said– he could choose what memories to follow. And right now, everyone here seemed to accept him. It was nice thinking he could just stay here and help with the restoration. He could train with Leon and Riku and get his skills back. He could help Riku and Mickey investigate– wait. There was no point investigating Ansem the Wise anymore if he already knew exactly where he was.

Roxas frowned as that unpleasant thought intruded on his optimism. How could he feel good about the other accepting him? Sooner or later they'd have to decide what to do with him whenever they managed to save Sora. The only way to delay that day was to do something that surely make them turn on him if they knew. Roxas suppressed a chill that had nothing to do with the cool morning air. Why couldn't Axel just have let him stay blissfully ignorant?

* * *

"Morning!"

Simba turned to see Yuffie sitting in the chair beside him. He had been sitting out in front of the hotel, beneath an awning, to watch as the people went by.

"Oh, hi, Yuffie." Simba smiled, before looking back out into the street. "This is a busy place, isn't it?"

"Compared to lots of worlds, no." Yuffie said. "But it does come to life in the morning. Are you just watching the crowds?"

"Thinking, mostly." Simba said. He tried to smile, but didn't yet have the skill to hide the sadness that flashed across his face.

Yuffie frowned a little and looked away from him.

"It's weird how the Heartless have become a common problem here." She said quietly. "We deal with them all the time, like it's nothing. We've come a long way. Ten years ago, when the Heartless first came…we didn't stand a chance. Leon still won't let himself have his old name back. It's horrible, having your world swallowed by the darkness."

"The darkness? Do you really think that's what happened to my world?" Simba's lined eyes stared intensely out in front of him.

"Could be." Yuffie said. "I can't think of what else could make a world disappear like that. But if that  _is_  what happened, things could get pretty serious. We'll have to figure out what happened so we can reverse it and keep it from happening here."

"It was collateral." Simba said softly.

"Come again?" Yuffie looked confused.

"I remember when the Heartless invaded my world too." Simba said in his regular voice, smoothing the moment over. "This wasn't really like that. I don't think Hollow Bastion has reason to worry, as long as all of you are here to protect it."

"I hope so." Yuffie looked out into the street, watching the crowds like Simba. "Hey, have you had breakfast yet? Feeling hungry?"

Simba thought for a moment. "Is there anywhere here you can get grubs?"

Yuffie looked at him with a mixture of revoltion and incrediluty, uncertain as to whether he was joking or not.

"Grubs? I could go for a few flies, myself."

Simba and Yuffie looked up as Roxas plopped down beside them.

"Really?" Simba said.

"No." Roxas replied, raising his eyebrows. "I guess you were serious. But I'm not sure how well your human tastebuds could handle grubs. I suggest pancakes with syrup."

"Roxas! You look like Riku and Mickey!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Yeah." Roxas said with a small laugh.

"Why? Are you all forming a cult?"

Roxas closed his eyes and rubbed his head in slight agitation. "No."

Simba turned toward him a little. "Are you going to try to infilterate the Organization?"

Roxas opened his eyes and looked at Simba. He hadn't thought of that.

"I don't know if I could." He said truthfully. "But you know about all this?"

"Mickey filled me in on everything." Simba explained. He hesitated, as if unsure if he should say what he was thinking. "If…if anything happened to you…what would happen to Sora?"

"What do you mean?" Yuffie said. "You mean you think there's some kind of…connection between them?"

"I don't think it would matter." Roxas said abruptly. "I don't think that Nobodies can 'die' in the way you'd usually, anyway."

"There you are. Are you ready?"

They all looked up to see Riku standing there, his arms crossed.

"For what?" Roxas said roughly, looking at Riku as if daring him to make a smart remark at Roxas' decision to take their advace and wear the coat.

Riku's lips quirked in a smile. "We're taking the Ship out. You're feeling up to it, aren't you?" there was no mistaking the taunt in his voice.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Roxas said stiffly. "Thanks for your concern."

"Well, let's hope you'll be fine." Riku became serious. "If you can't travel with me and Mickey then it'll be harder to keep the Organization from getting at you. Disney Castle wasn't impenetrable, and neither is Hollow Bastion."

Roxas knew that it was too much to think that Riku would accept the risks involved with helping Roxas regain his abilities out of pure desire to help him. It was to keep the Organization from being able to reach him as easily as they had at Twilight Town. Roxas did not feel the need to mention that Axel had done just that the day before.

"Can I go too?" Simba said unexpectedly. "I want to help."

Riku looked at him uncertainly. He didn't really know that much about Simba; then again, he'd fought alongside Sora, so he could probably be trusted to hold his own in a fight. And Riku knew that if he was in Simba's place, he'd be wanting to do everything he could.

"Okay." Riku said. "I don't think Mickey will mind. Alright- you guys grab some breakfast and meet us at the Gummi ship."

They nodded and Riku walked off toward the reconstruction site, perhaps to tell the others of the change in plan.

"Hey." Roxas said. "I hope you're able to get your world back soon."

Simba did not smile. He just looked down at his unfamiliar hands.

"Me too." He said quietly.

 


	14. Not a Prisoner

"Okay…how to explain this exactly…you know the energy that comes from the Keyblade?"

"Yeah." Roxas said.

They were on the Gummi Ship, on their way to another world. Roxas had done well exiting Hollow Bastion; and he was now asking Riku about how to use the portals of darkness to pass the time flying to Atlantica.

"When you have a Keyblade of your own," Mickey said, "you can feel it, even if it's not there."

Roxas nodded in agreement, curling his right hand around the invisible current of warm energy that could materialize into the Keyblade at a simple thought.

"The darkness is like that too." Riku said. "It's always there, behind a thin layer. You feel it." He closed his eyes and felt the air before him as if sifting through sand to feel something beneath it. "It's a cold pulse, and if you touch it, you can call it out." He opened his eyes and summoned a small circle of swirling darkness. "I call the darkness with the darkness in my own heart. I don't know how Nobodies do it."

"What?" Roxas said. He looked at Mickey. "You mean that you guys do it differently?"

"We would have to." Mickey said. "Our way would be impossible for a Nobody. We connect the realm of darkness to our own darkness- that's how we are able to go into it and move around. Nobodies have no heart, and so no darkness inside them. We dunno how they can use it, and use it better than we can."

"'Rejected by both the Light and Dark.'" Riku recited. "But don't think it's impossible for you just because we can't figure it out. Obviously, it works somehow, and you can use the Keyblade even though I wouldn't be able to explain how. It's the same sort of thing."

Roxas crossed his arms, deep in thought. How he summoned the Keyblade… well… he'd never really thought about it much. He just sort of…

SCREEECH!

The Gummi Ship gave a horrible whine and lurched, tossing them from their seats, all except Riku, who had been standing and who ended up stumbling into the controls.

"What's going on?" Roxas yelled. Riku grabbed the controls and forcibly turned the ship back level.

"It feels like we ran over something." He said. "Mickey, the Radar-"

"On it, Riku." Mickey got up from the floor and scurried over to the radar screen. "It should have warned us of any solid debris-"

"What is it?" Roxas went over there quickly. Simba was slowly getting up, rubbing a spot on his head.

Mickey didn't answer. Roxas squinted at the screen, at first unable to comprehend the dark, swirling mass that obscured a corner of the world map. Strands of darkness seemed to come off it- it was one of these that the ship had tripped over.

"It looks like a world." Roxas said, leaning closer to look at the vague outline inside the mass. "A world covered in darkness…"

Suddenly it felt like he'd touched a live wire as he recognized what was resting there in the center of the darkness.

"Twilight Town." Mickey said quietly.

Roxas turned to Riku. "Something's happened to it! We have to land!"

" _What?_  Are you crazy?" Riku replied, frowning at Roxas. "Whatever happened to it is going to happen to us if we land there."

Roxas glanced past Riku and then dived at the controls. Riku swore loudly and grabbed Roxas before he could even get close.

"Let me go! You don't care, do you, not if it matters to me, you couldn't care less–"

"Roxas!" Simba shouted, and to Roxas' fury he helped Riku hold him back, pushing against his chest.

"Idiot!" Riku growled. "It's too dangerous, that place is saturated with darkness, it's not the same as just passing through it!"

Roxas stopped struggling, and Simba and Riku cautiously let him go.

" _Passing through it_ , right, thanks for reminding me." Roxas muttered. He looked beside him as if distracted by something invisible there.

Everyone glanced at each other. They had not yet realized what Roxas was trying to do.

Roxas stared intently at a single spot. He put up both hands and ran them along an invisible wall like a mime, trying to feel it, trying to feel this 'cold pulse' that Riku had mentioned.

He was surprised how suddenly it happened. He felt a chill slither past his hand and he pushed his fingers into it, ripping it open, pulling it apart. Darkness plumed in the air and everyone jumped back, crying out in surprise. Roxas, still acting on impulse, feeling very detached from himself, walked into it without hesitation. He felt something pulling him back. Riku had grabbed his sleeve.

"The darkness can't hurt me, not really. You said so yourself." Roxas jerked his arm free and stepped deeper into the darkness, the Ship fading from sight and the faces of the others vanishing along with it.

Roxas walked blindly, air swirling around. For the first time ever he felt not threatened by the darkness, but protected by it. He knew, instinctively, that this was going to work.

 _Take me there._  He commanded the darkness.

He stepped forward and the swirling stopped. He could even see a little.

He was standing inside DiZ's mansion. Everything was obscured by a purplish-black haze.

The illusion of safety dropped abruptly. There was an inexplicable wind here; a chill that beat itself against him and tried to rip through him. Roxas stumbled over debris on the floor, wrapping his arms around himself and squinting through the gloom.

"Hello?" he yelled, but no sound came.

He walked forward, swatting strands of darkness out of his face like sticky cobwebs. Fear stirred within him. There was no way anyone could live in this. He could see yellow eyes lurking in the dark places in the corners and beneath the stairs. They followed him as he climbed up to the landing, dreamlike, but all too aware that this was reality. He didn't even know where he was going.

He saw a door and opened it. Inside the room he saw more stairs and another door. He kept going.

Now he was in a different room. A dusty computer lay in disuse, forlorn. Roxas' eyes drifted to another open door, and he let his feet carry on without the presence of his fear or judgment. He felt numb; was it disbelief at the state of his world that made him drift aimlessly like a ghost toward some unknown destination, or was it the darkness?

Roxas blinked in shock. He seemed to wake up. He was in a hallway with glass pods lining it. He laid his gloved hand on one.

"Goofy." He said, aloud, but soundlessly. "And Donald."

This wasn't right- they shouldn't be here. They were just discarded, put here to sleep and never wake again.

 _I've got to help them._  Roxas thought desperately. He had nothing against Donald or Goofy, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to just leave them here. But how could he get them out? The darkness would crush them in seconds. Their hearts would probably draw every Heartless on this world to this spot. Perhaps he could open a portal and push them through. And if the Heartless came…well, he could fight. He would only need to hold them off for as long as it took to get them out of here.

Roxas looked around the pods, looking for a way to open them. He found a flat rectangular button at the base of each that looked likely- he bent down, braced himself, and pushed both at the same time.

Warm air rushed out as the pods slowly opened.

The effect was instantaneous. As Roxas carefully caught the two figures slumping over, still unconscious, a dark shape seized him from behind.

Roxas turned around swiftly and before there was any chance to react, Sleeping Lion's blade was held at the neck of- Riku?

"Riku!" Roxas yelled, but still no sound came. "You have to get them, there's no time to-" he broke off and jumped over Goofy as a Heartless descended over him.

Riku said something, his face tense, but Roxas couldn't hear him.

"Go!" Roxas shouted, waving one arm in a frantic gesture. "I'll fight them! You shouldn't be here!"

Riku understood. He scooped up the prone forms of Donald and Goofy and summoned a portal. He looked back at Roxas before stepping through, and Roxas was sure he was trying to tell him to hold on until he got back.

"Now who's the idiot?" Roxas muttered, grunting as another Heartless slashed at him and he barely blocked it. The Heartless were vicious here, and strong. He felt again the strange sense of detachment, as if his mind was floating up and away from his body. He felt cold despite the heavy coat. The darkness was growing steadily heavier, and he continued to strike out, losing the ability to see what he was fighting, and sinking…

* * *

Simba and Mickey gasped as Riku stumbled through the darkness onto the ship and fell. His breathing was quick and shallow, and he was shivering violently.

"Riku!" Mickey cried, hopping down from his chair. "Donald? Goofy?"

"They were there." Riku panted, sitting up. Goofy and Donald were splayed out beside him, still out cold. "I found Roxas and he was helping them…he's still there." Riku stood up.

"Riku…don't." Simba said, realizing his intent. "You can't go back, and anyway, he should be fine. He's a Nobody."

"He's right, Riku." Mickey said, running over as Riku staggered slightly. "You wore yourself out just going there."

"We have to find him." Riku said firmly. "Nobody or not, if he stays there it will destroy him. He was being attacked by Heartless when I left."

He picked up Donald, and Simba hurried forward to lift Goofy. They put them in a cabin below, Mickey following them.

"Well, you can't go." Mickey said, just as stubborn as Riku. "I'll go."

"Your Majest-"

"No, Riku. You fly the ship back home and get help for Donald and Goofy. I'll come back if I can't find him quickly." Mickey pulled up his hood for better protection. "I'll cast Reflaga and move fast."

Riku could tell that Mickey wasn't going to be convinced, and he gave an irritable jerk of his head.

"Alright." He said. "But if you're not back by the time we get to the castle, I'm going after both of you."

Mickey nodded and turned, stepping into the darkness.

"He protected them… like they meant something to him." Riku said as he sat down at the controls. He sounded angry, even though he wouldn't have been able to explain why. He just couldn't understand it.

* * *

Roxas did not know where he was. Warm light shone through his eyelids and he was sitting with his back against a wall.

He groggily opened his eyes. He was sitting on the ground, and in front of him was DiZ's mansion, looking like it always did, a crumbling old house in the orange glow of twilight. There was no evidence that it had ever been covered in darkness.

Roxas' eyes widened and he stood up quickly. This was impossible- he'd just  _seen_ Twilight Town, and it wasn't like this. Was this the other Twilight Town? If it was, how had he gotten here? He remembered a hand that grabbed and pulled up upward when he was sinking down into the darkness. Maybe it was real.

"What a drag. There's nothing really interesting about this place at all." Said a voice.

Roxas let in a sharp breath and he quickly covered his mouth. There, on the other side of the wall…could it be?

"I told you!" a girl's voice next. "There is absolutely nothing haunted about this place. You guys are so gullible."

"You believed it too." The first voice shot back.

Roxas tried to breathe as quietly as possible. He reached out to find that small vein of darkness that could take him out of there, but nothing came.

"Hey, look." A third voice said. "The gate's wide open. Was it like that before?"

"I don't think so." The girl said, sounding interested.

"Let's check it out."

Roxas glanced around for somewhere to hide or escape, but he knew there was no time. Three very familiar kids walked into view, and despite how hard Roxas was wishing to be invisible, they spotted him.

He stared, frozen. They stared back.

"Hey." Hayner said. "Who're you?"

"Um…" Roxas said brilliantly, "Roxas."

Hayner rolled his eyes. "Okay, but no. What are you doing here? This is private property."

"You're here." It was the only thing he could think of to say.

"Yeah, but  _we've_  got a reason to be here. Me, Pence, and Olette are investigating the rumors that this place is haunted for our school project." Hayner pointed at himself with his thumb.

" _You're_ not a ghost, are you?" Pence said uneasily.

"I doubt it; he looks too solid to be a ghost." Olette said dismissively. "But…" she tilted her head to the side a little. "I've never seen him around before. At least, I don't think. Do you live here?" she asked Roxas.

Roxas opened his mouth, then closed it. He lowered his eyes and sighed.

"I used to." He said softly. "But not anymore."

"Yeah, I kinda thought you looked a little familiar." Hayner said, completely abandoning his former hostility. "Are you here for the summer?"

"Uh… yeah." Roxas said, quickly latching on to the story. "I came for the summer to stay with some family."

"Oh, that's cool." Hayner said. "Hey, Roxas, you wanna hang out with us? It's better than just wandering out here by yourself."

"Yeah, we need to pick him up before Seifer's gang does." Pence agreed. "They've got four people already!"

"That is, if you want to, Roxas." Olette added, knowing her friends' tendency to get ahead of themselves.

Roxas hesitated. He shouldn't be here. The real versions should have never seen him. But, on the other hand, he had no idea how to get out of here. It would be okay if he just wanted to hang out with them until he found a way out… right?

"Alright."

Hayner led the way to the Usual Spot, telling Roxas all about the various residents and features of Twilight Town- mainly Seifer and his gang and how much better their own group was.

By the time they arrived there, a strange thing was beginning to happen. All of the kids, even Roxas, were getting along so easily and comfortably that they almost forgot that they had just met him. It was as if he'd always been there. As the three boys set up a tent to camp out on Sunset Hill and Olette said goodbye for the day (her parents would not let her stay out overnight with the boys), Roxas settled down in a borrowed sleeping bag beneath the clear, sun stained sky. His coat was bunched up to use as a pillow, turned over so that the zipper didn't make it uncomfortable. He looked over at the yellow tent in a lazy, aimless gaze. He wasn't thinking about Mickey or Riku or Sora or Axel- none of that seemed nearly as important as before. He couldn't remember just what he'd been so stressed about. All of it had nothing to do with him, really. Besides, he was stuck here now. There was nothing he could do now even if he wanted to.

As Roxas drifted off into sleep, he could even let himself forget that the coat that rested underneath his head was ever more to him than a makeshift pillow.

* * *

_The door of darkness,_

_Tied by two keys._

_The door of darkness to seal the light._

Roxas walked down the seemingly endless path that wound through a vast field that stretched on just as endlessly under a starry sky. His feet were set at a purposeful pace, but his mind was blank- it was as if he was nearly late to a prearranged meeting, even though he couldn't remember right now what it was for.

_None shall pass but shadows,_

_Returning to the darkness._

Roxas slowed a little. The wide horizon of peacefully stirring grass had been disrupted.

He was at a crossroad.

"Hey." said a soft voice thoughtfully.

Roxas looked and saw Sora standing beside him, gazing down the way Roxas had just arrived from.

"I feel like I've been here before. Don't you?" Roxas said.

"Yeah." Sora said. "That's what I was thinking."

He looked on ahead, hesitating, as if contemplating walking down Roxas' path. He took a few steps forward.

"You're not going that way, are you? That's twilit road to nightfall." Roxas turned his head to look back at Sora. He wasn't sure where the knowledge came from, but he was getting used to that.

"You can go the way I came from, if you want." Sora stopped and turned to look back at Roxas. "I couldn't find anything there." He gave a slight nod and turned back around to resume walking.

Roxas watched him for a moment before he, too, continued forward. He smiled to himself.

"Maybe, then, I'm not the one with the twilit destiny." he said.

* * *

All Sora could see was red; light was shining brightly through his closed eyelids. He wasn't sure when he'd closed his eyes, though- nor when he'd decided to lie down here in such a bright place.

He opened his eyes a slit, and then a little more when he realized that the brightness came from the all-white surroundings.

He blinked a few times and the blurry shape above him became a face with vivid green eyes.

"Well, hello there, Sora." Axel said. "Welcome back to the world of the living."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the end of "Part I" where I considered myself to be halfway through the story, or at least I thought back then. In between this and the next chapter there was a long gap of time between posting because I was making a plan for the next part. It was in 2008ish.


	15. Lies & Illusion

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Riku said quietly, looking ahead into space. "A very bad feeling."

Simba did not reply, but looked thoughtfully down at the Radar, his new post since they were getting very short on crew. Mickey lay below in his cabin along with Donald and Goofy. Riku had insisted.

The attempt to find Roxas was utterly futile so far. For all they knew, he could be dead or captured by the Organization. Either way, it changed the situation a great deal. Mickey had a strong heart and incredible magical skill, but even he had been worn out by just a few minutes in the altered Twilight Town. Even worse, there was nothing that could keep the world from vanishing again completely as it had before.

"Someone knew," Riku continued to himself. "They knew that the most important thing to Roxas was Twilight Town, and they knew that he'd do anything if he thought it was in danger, even jump in to somewhere we can't follow. They knew we were going to help him learn to use the darkness, _and_  they knew that we were going to be out here today."

"So…what happens now?" Simba asked quietly, choosing to look at the floor rather than at Riku.

Riku sighed. "I guess the only thing we can do is take Mickey and the others back to Disney castle. Damn it!" he burst out suddenly. "We're getting nowhere! Everything we try to do just makes the situation worse and worse."

And it had all started just because he hadn't been able to reach Sora in time. That split second decision he made, the decision to find Roxas instead of chasing after Axel, had caused all of this. Why had he listened to DiZ? He should have told him to shove it! DiZ was just an old man bent on his own goal, and where was he now? Vanished the moment everything started to go wrong,  _of course._

Every effort Riku made up until now to ensure that Sora woke up safely had just been completely laid to waste- going off to the World That Never Was and coming back looking like the person he hated most…it took everything he had not to shudder every time he looked in the mirror. Who could he blame? Who was there for him to take out this anger on?

"We don't know where DiZ is, we don't know  _anything_ about what the Organization is doing, the worlds are vanishing, and Maleficent has even showed up again!" Riku continued. "And what have we done?"

"You've restored Hollow Bastion to a place where people can live and hope again."

Riku shot Simba an irritated glare.

"Hollow Bastion is becoming better." He said waspishly. "But that is because of our side, not because of me. I only helped it rot."

"Oh. So what you really mean is, 'What have I done.'"

There was a pause.

"I guess." Riku said grudgingly.

"If you want to make up for your past, the first thing you have to do is find the courage to admit to yourself what you've done." Simba gave a melancholy smile. "And to find the path to fixing it, you have to make room for disappointment and fear."

Riku pushed a few buttons on the controls, looking up at the viewscreen.

"Approaching Disney Castle." he said.

* * *

"What?" Sora said, confused.

"Well, would you look at that. He's as blank as can be. I guess you really did it, Naminé."

"Axel-!"

As Sora groggily sat up, his confused and sleepy mind took in the scene around him. A skinny man cloaked in black was standing there looking at him with a strange smile. The girl, Naminé, had grabbed his arm with a tense look on her face.

"What? I just wanted to say hello to the kid before he gets dragged up in front of the boss." Axel said casually.

Naminé made a small sound, as if she had just swallowed what she was going to say.

Axel shrugged and pulled his arm from Naminé's grip.

"Relax." he said. "I'm not planning on making it worse."

He turned around and vanished.

Naminé backed away and sat down heavily in a chair, her head low and her body trembling.

"…Naminé?"

Naminé looked up at Sora. The whiteness of the room and his clothing made his eyes stand out even more vividly than they usually did.

"Please don't cry."

Naminé stared at him. Sora stared back at her with a sleepy expression, blinking a little in the bright light and holding his arms close to his chest as if slightly chilled.

"Yes, Naminé, don't cry."

Both of them jump and turned sharply to see none other than the leader of Organization XIII standing in the room, smiling. It was a rare expression that he wasn't very adept at; it made Naminé shudder with revulsion on the inside.

"After all, you've done so much to help." Xemnas continued. He picked up a chair and sat himself down beside the bed. "How are you feeling, Sora?"

"Who are you?" Sora asked slowly.

"You don't remember?" Xemnas raised his eyebrows in fabricated surprise.

"N…no…" Sora glanced at Naminé, who still looked very tense, and then back to Xemnas.

"Ah…" Xemnas sighed. "I was afraid of that. You see, Sora…" he laid a hand on Sora's shoulder. "Very recently, something happened that made you lose your memory. Now think, and please tell me. What's the last thing you remember?"

Sora looked confused, then scrunched up his face in concentration. He looked to the side slightly and his gaze slid past Xemnas' arm and into Naminé's eyes. There was an oddly serious gleam in his gaze.

"I remember a room." he said. "A… a blank white room. But I don't remember it very well. It feels kind of like a dream."

"Was there anyone else there? Anyone at all?"

Sora raised his head just a little.

"No." he said in a quiet voice that wavered slightly, sounding almost as if his throat was closed up. This reaction confused Naminé. Was he upset?

Apparently Xemnas interpreted it the same way.

"Don't be afraid." he rumbled. "Perhaps that may change. Let us know if anyone shows up in your dreams."

"Okay." Sora paused. "Where am I? What happened to me?"

"You're at the castle of Organization XIII," Xemnas said. "I found you outside in the city below. You were still awake at the time, but you lost consciousness after that. It was clear that you'd been attacked by the Heartless."

"Heartless…" Sora looked at his bare feet and mulled that one over. "I think that that sounds familiar."

"There are very many Heartless outside of this castle," Xemnas said. "I suggest that you stay inside until you get your strength back. I think you will need some time to recover before you can even walk normally without becoming tired."

"I feel tired already," Sora mumbled.

"I'm sure it will pass. Please let us know if you need anything. Someone will check on you later. In the meantime, Naminé here will look after you. Tell her if you happen to remember anything. She has certain abilities. We think she might be able to help you regain your memory."

As if she didn't already know exactly what he could and could not remember. Naminé stared at her desk. She couldn't look at this sickening display.

"Alright, I will," Sora said sleepily.

Xemnas nodded and left by way of the door. They had been moved into a more innocent-looking room without bars for Sora's awakening. Not that it meant the two of them were any less captive. Naminé imagined it was only a matter of time before the charade fell apart.

Jiminy couldn't take it anymore. He hopped out from his hiding place on Naminé's desk.

"Sora!"

Sora looked up and around the desk, confused for a moment, before his eyes fixed on the impatiently hopping cricket.

"J-Jiminy?" He made to stand up, but his legs wobbled and he comically felt back on his rear. He looked so openly bewildered that he looked just like the younger kid he had once been. "Wait, how…how do I know your name?"

"That's because of me." Naminé said from the door. She had gotten up to close it quietly. "As Xemnas said, I'm trying to use my powers to help you regain your memory."

"Naminé! You can't let this–!" Jiminy exclaimed.

"You mustn't tell anyone about Jiminy being here, Sora." Naminé came back toward them with anxiety clear on her face.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because this place is supposed to be a secret. Jiminy's your friend, and he cares about you, but he could get in trouble if the others knew he was here."

Sora was reminded of Roxas, and how he'd made him promise not to tell anyone that he'd appeared in his dreams. He too had that same underlying tone of anxiety.

"Oh." Sora watched Jiminy climb up beside him on the bed. "I'm sorry, Jiminy, I don't remember anything about you but your name."

"No, no, it's fine. I understand." Jiminy's face was crumpled with worry as Sora scooped him up and let him sit on his shoulder. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Do  _you_  know what happened to me?"

Jiminy frowned deeply. "I don't… I woke up and we were both in this place."

"But you still have your memory, don't you? Can you tell me about myself?"

"I… I can't," Jiminy said weakly.

"Why not?"

Jiminy could never remember a time in his life when he'd felt so heartbroken and frustrated. It hurt him just to see Sora like this– confused and weak. Maybe it was just due to the lingering fatigue, but he didn't seem to have any of his usual spunk. What was even worse, though, was that he couldn't tell Sora the truth. If the Organization thought Sora knew more than he should, or even if he trusted them a little less than he should for no apparent reason… Jiminy knew who Xemnas would blame it on. No, the only chance he had of saving Sora now was to figure out a way for all of them to escape. If he could just get a message to the others…

"Jiminy?" Sora blinked at him with his sleepy blue eyes.

"You have to remember it by yourself, it's more healthy that way," Jiminy said, trying his best to sound encouraging and not like he hated himself for every word he spoke. "Don't worry about me. This place isn't open to outsiders, but it's safe. You should just relax and focus on feeling better."  _And get stronger again so we can get the hell out of here,_  he added silently.

"So…Naminé?" Sora said quietly. "Where is this place? And who are the others? Why don't outsiders come here?"

Naminé sighed and sat down in Xemnas' vacated chair. For her, even more than Jiminy, this was the part she knew she would hate the most. Keeping them together, it was obvious that he was going to end up asking her the most questions– which consequently meant she would have to lie to him more than anyone else.

"This castle belongs to a group called Organization XIII. Xemnas, who was here a minute ago, is their leader. They took you in. Like Xemnas said, this place is surrounded by Heartless. You remember what the Heartless are, don't you?"

"Dark creatures. They try to take your heart, and if I can, I should try to stop them with the Keyblade."

Naminé looked surprised and blinked. "You remembered that easier than I expected."

Sora grinned sheepishly. "Thanks. I remembered that when I was thinking in the room."

Naminé smiled hesitantly, looking a little bit puzzled.  _What is this room he keeps talking about? Did he stay asleep for so long that he learned how to be conscious of it in his dreams?_

It so happened that Sora's dreams were one thing that Naminé was unable to see. She could interrupt them with memories or even fabricated dreams, but she could not step inside or even view them. Dreams could contain memories, but they very rarely left traces themselves. They were products of the mind, but they were naturally-born fabrications. This was another reason why the Organization depended so heavily on being able to gain Sora's trust, so that he would tell them if Roxas ever figured out how to talk to him inside of a dream. Truthfully, Naminé was relieved that this was one thing she did not have to be responsible for. It was a small glimmer of hope.

But it figured that he was determined enough to try to remember things in his sleep.

"Well at any rate, Sora, first you need some food and a bath. I know you've got to be hungry."

"Sora's  _always_ hungry." Jiminy said fondly.

Sora attempted to stand again, wavered, then stood still in one spot to gain his bearings.

"I'm going to go." he said. "Shouldn't be too hard, right? Where is the bathroom?"

"It's through that door," Naminé pointed. "There should be everything you need in there."

"You don't mean by yourself?" Jiminy said skeptically.

"Why not?" Sora said with a touch of stubbornness. "You guys have already taken care of me, so you stay here and rest." He started walking unsteadily toward the door. "I really gotta…" he yawned, "wake up…" it took a couple of attempts to get his hand to turn the doorknob and open the door. A few minutes later they heard the sound of running water in the tub.

"Shouldn't we get someone to help him, just in case?" Jiminy asked.

"It should be fine for the moment. Someone is going to bring food later, so that is already covered." Naminé said, staring down at her desk. "Everything's going to be so much more difficult now that he's awake. It's very hard for me to pretend like this. Why else do you think Xemnas took the time to come here and explain it all himself?"

"There  _has_  to be something we can do." Jiminy frowned. "…What about that man that was here before? Is he not allowed to be around Sora or something? You seemed really worried when he suddenly showed up."

"Axel." Naminé said. "Actually, I don't know what he's thinking or what he's allowed to do. But, I think it would be safe to say that he isn't supposed to ever be alone with Sora, if he's even allowed to be around him at all. He was Roxas' best friend."

Jiminy had a look of sudden comprehension. Naminé had told him all about Roxas, how he'd been imprisoned by DiZ, and how he'd escaped. He knew that Roxas was now on the run and, presumably, missing. If anyone in the Organization knew where he was, they certainly hadn't let Naminé in on the secret. From what Xemnas had said to Sora, it seemed as if they didn't know. But who could be sure?

"Sora can't let them know where Roxas is." Jiminy said firmly. "We don't want that. Right?" for a moment he looked uncertain. "I mean, what will happen if they find him?"

"I'm not sure." Naminé's liquid blue eyes were distracted, worried. "I thought I knew, but now… I don't. I kind of think that they want to know where he is, and what he's doing, but not so they can do anything to him. Just to know. But they're not telling me anything."

Jiminy scowled. "I know you can't leave, but they don't know _I'm_  here. I could try to find out something. But I get the feeling it'll be hard to go unseen around here, even for me." he crossed his arms. "What I would really like to do is get out of here to tell everyone about what's going on. Or at least find a way to tell them."

Naminé shook her head. "We can't. The only way out of here is through the darkness. I've never done it on my own before, and now isn't the best time to try. The only way would be to get one of the others to help us." Her hands clenched into fists. "Or… or if they teach Sora how to use the darkness."

Jiminy didn't like to think of that. It gave him an ominous, prickling feeling.

"Would he help us, if that happened?" he muttered.

"I don't know that either." Naminé said gently. "Come on. Let's try not to think about that. He has us, right? He has you." She picked him up and took him over to the desk, depositing him beside the lonely flower pot. "You're here, and just by doing that you're doing the best that you can."

"Yeah. Keeping him on the straight and narrow. Yeah, I can do that."

But he sounded not entirely cheerful. Not entirely confident. It was one thing to teach a wooden, animate puppet not to steal or tell lies.

It was another thing entirely to try to keep the savior of the entire universe from falling into darkness.

Namine leaned down to Jiminy's face level.

"If you ever find a way out of here, there  _is_ a way we can reverse everything that was done to Sora's memory," she said very quietly. "So even if it seems like things are going horribly wrong, there is still hope. I have a plan."

* * *

Meanwhile, Roxas was wholly consumed, blissfully unaware within an artificial dream.

They were at the beach.

The calm sea rushed in and out below the pink, sunstained sky. Children shrieked and giggled in the shallows, and the food stand nearby radiated pleasant smells that mixed and wafted with the salty air.

"Roxas!" Hayner yelled. "Heads up!"

"Wha-?" Roxas started to look up, only to be hit in the face with a large beach ball.

Luckily, it had been of the very light and plastic variety. It hadn't hurt, but it had startled him out of his reverie.

"You're always drifting away like that." Olette scolded, walking over to retrieve the ball. "It's about time you learned how to pay attention."

"Yeah?" Roxas said, trying to think of a good comeback, but utterly failing. "Well…at least I don't… pay attention in class! Like you. Nerd. Ha ha. Hah."

"Ooh, burn!" Hayner said in a very sarcastic stage-whisper.

"I know that you don't." Olette rolled her eyes. Roxas huffed and went back to sit on his towel.

"It's getting late, isn't it?" he said, absently dumping sand out of his boots.

"Yeah." Pence said. He looked odd with not-quite-rubbed-in sunscreen on his nose. Pence burned easily, so he always slathered it on. "I feel like some ice cream. Do we have any Munny left?"

They all dug around in their pockets.

"Huh. What's this?" Roxas wondered out loud. Everyone turned to see him holding a curiously shaped piece of metal in his hand. It looked like the head of a lion.

"That's weird. Where'd you find it?" Hayner said, not really interested.

But Roxas had grown very still. His were widened and he was frozen in place as if the metal trinket in his hand was a poisonous spider.

"Roxas, what's wrong?" Olette asked, a little bit concerned.

Roxas stood up very suddenly.

"I have to go." he said. He stuffed the trinket into his pocket, quickly gathered up the rest of his clothes, and ran. He ran away, leaving his heavy boots half-submerged in the sand.

"Roxas-?" Hayner called in surprise and irritation, but their friend was quickly gone out of sight.

"He gets weirder every day." Pence sighed, shaking his head. "If he had to go that bad, there's plenty of sand dunes around here."

* * *

Roxas was horrified at what had almost happened. What  _had_  happened.

"I have to get out of here." He mumbled frantically to himself, running. Running pointlessly. Running nowhere. Was there anywhere he could go? Anywhere?

Any…

Roxas stopped. He was at the tiny train station that served the beach. The clock told him that the next train to Sunset Terrace would arrive in ten minutes. Impatiently, he started putting his clothes back on. That's when he noticed that he'd left his boots. As well as-

"The coat!" he looked wildly around as if expecting it to have followed him. "I lost it? When?"

He couldn't remember. He dug into his pockets again, panicked, put found no comforting crackle of paper. That note. He'd left it in the coat's inside pocket. It was supposed to help him remember who he was. Lot of good that did.

Roxas slumped down into a seat, utterly defeated. There was only one thing to do. Only one thing he could  _think_  to do. And that was to go to the mansion. To go to where everything had begun. If there was an answer, that was where it would be. That was where he was supposed to have gone before, what Axel had told him to do before Mickey and Riku found him.

He closed his eyes, wondering for a moment how different things might have been if he hadn't hesitated that time. Would he have stayed here, in the real Twilight Town? Would he have been able to settle in just as easily and seamlessly, and would he have been able to stay there without the horribly reeling, off-balance sensation he had right now?

He'd fallen so easily into old habits, old memories. He'd forgotten everything that had happened since his first weird dream. And he'd somehow managed that without the influence of DiZ's illusions or Naminé's power.

 _It's not real. It is, but I'm not really part of it. I'm not supposed to be._  He thought furiously.  _Stupid! I was supposed to have gotten over this place! Gotten over the fake identity!_

"What is real, then? Who am I?" he said aloud without meaning to.

The warning bell rang, and the train pulled up.

"Roxas!"

It was Olette. She was panting, hands on her knees.

"Are you alright? Are you leaving?" she said, looking at him.

"I'm going back to town." Roxas said. "I'm done with the beach."

He turned to board the train.

"Wait-" Olette started before silencing herself.

"What?" Roxas turned toward her. He said it very simply. He did not want her to follow him, thinking he was upset.

Olette's bright green eyes were brimming with doubt.

"Oh, it's stupid." She smiled a little. "I just felt suddenly that, if you got on that train, then we'd never see you again. It was a weird impulse. I'm sorry."

"Hearts are really powerful." Roxas smiled as he got onto the train. "I think one day I'll have to know what that's like, too."

The door slid closed, with Olette's surprised expression behind it.

Now that he was away from the others, Roxas could think a little bit more clearly. He sat down in one of the seats and tried to remember how to utilize the portals of darkness.


	16. Where Am I?

Riku pressed down on the communicator button.

"Riku to launch crew." He said grimly. "We have arrived. Over."

"Yes sir!" Chip's squeaky voice responded. "Everybody is ready. Aerith and Merlin are here, too."

The hatches slowly opened and Riku carefully steered the ship into Disney Castle's gummi hangar.

Mickey had not managed to find Roxas. Riku had on the verge of going back to the darkness-swathed Twilight Town to find them both himself when Mickey managed to stumble back in, the darkness pulling at his limbs like it wanted to take him back. He had collapsed right afterward. Simba and Riku had helped him to rest in the ship's small infirmary with Donald and Goofy.

As much as Riku wanted to return to the base of their investigations at Hollow Bastion, he knew that their need was greater right now. So, he'd called Disney Castle and Merlin to make sure everything would be ready when they arrived.

The ship landed, and on the dock waiting for them was Chip, Dale, Daisy, Minnie, Hop, Aerith, and Merlin.

"Where are they?" Merlin said, wasting no time.

"In here." Riku said, standing. "Come on. Simba?"

"Okay," Simba said. He and Riku went to the back. The three were already on stretchers ready to be lifted off.

"Please, allow me," Merlin said. He waved his wand and the stretchers floated up. Simba and Riku jumped out of the ship quickly before the giant disembarkment hands could come after them. Merlin carefully lowered the stretchers down to a few feet above the dock.

"Oh, Donald!" Daisy cried.

"Captain!" Hop shouted.

"Oh, please let them be alright," Minnie said worriedly.

"Everything is going to be okay, Your Majesty," Riku said. "Aerith? Will you come with me and Merlin?"

"Yes." Aerith said seriously.

"What in the world happened?" Daisy asked as they all followed Merlin into the castle. "I thought you all were just staying on Hollow Bastion to do some investigations!"

"How did you find Donald and Goofy?" Minnie asked.

"You remember before we left, Twilight Town disappeared," Riku started.

"You found it somehow?" Daisy said. She wasn't taking her eyes off of Donald's face.

"Sort of," Riku said. "We weren't trying to. To make a long story short, we got a little distracted from our investigating when we found out another world had disappeared."

"Another one?" Hop said, an edge under his voice.

"That was my world," Simba said. Everyone except Merlin, who was focusing on getting the stretchers up the stairs of the castle, looked at him. The others hadn't seemed to notice him before now. "I ended up in Hollow Bastion somehow after my world disappeared. We went out to see if we could figure out what was going on,"

"Before all this happened, we were on our way to Atlantica," Riku said. "Simba is an old ally of Sora's, so we thought it couldn't be a coincidence. We were going to visit some more of his friends in different worlds to see if they had noticed anything unusual lately. That was when Twilight Town reappeared on the map."

"What?" Daisy gasped.

Riku nodded. "But there was something wrong with it. It was covered in darkness. Roxas panicked and managed to make a dark portal to land on the world. He is the one that found Donald and Goofy."

"Roxas saved them?" Minnie said.

"He is really hard to figure out sometimes," Riku said, shaking his head. "King Mickey went into the town to try to find him, but he had to come back. The darkness there was just too much."

"No worse than the Realm of Darkness," Mickey said with a quiet chuckle. He opened one of his eyes to look at Minnie walking beside his stretcher.

"There should be nothing seriously wrong with them," Merlin said. "Donald and Goofy should just be feeling the aftereffects of Namine's work, and I believe King Mickey was just drained from fighting Heartless in the darkness. Where to, madam?" He added to Minnie as they reached the long velvet hallway.

"There is a guest room on the second floor with a couple of beds," Minnie scurried forward to take the lead. "Just follow me."

"Excellent. Riku, can I count on you to send a report back to Leon?"

"Of course," Riku said. He put his hand on Simba's shoulder. "It's better if we give them some space for now. Come on, the communications room is on this floor."

Simba only nodded and followed as Riku took a right down another hallway, separating them from the group.

"Are you doing alright?" Riku asked unexpectedly.

"Why do you ask?" Simba replied quickly. Just the simple question made his heart speed up.

"Well… none of this is helping us figure out what happened to your world," he looked at Simba with concern. "You seem to be handling it fairly well."

Simba took a long breath in slowly. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that I am taking it well. I'm so worried about my friends and the people on my world. But I don't want anyone else to get hurt, either."

"I lost my world for a little while, too," Riku said. "It hurt, even though it had been entirely my fault. I know how you feel. Here we are," he opened the door to the communications room and turned on the light. He walked over and immediately started to work at the computer.

"It isn't your fault that any of this happened, though," Riku added. "We would need to investigate worlds vanishing anyway. There is a really good chance that this has something to do with Sora's kidnapping."

Simba had no idea how to respond. He felt like a giant, dark hand was reaching into his chest, squeezing his heart.

Luckily, Leon's face appeared on the screen, tense and ready. Cid was looking over his shoulder.

"Have you heard from Roxas yet?" Leon asked quickly.

"No," Riku said gravely. "And there has been no contact from DiZ either since the simulated Twilight Town reappeared."

"What about the real Twilight Town? Do you think that he or Roxas could be there?"

"Maybe. The one on the radar is the simulation, which is strange. If the real one doesn't show up on the map, the only way we might be able to get there will be to go into the simulated town and use the portal in DiZ's lab to go there."

"That is out of the question. It's too dangerous," Leon said.

"I know that," Riku said, "but we have to do something. If the Organization gets their hands on Roxas too…"

Simba stepped up as if he was going to say something, but he didn't. Leon and Riku looked at him.

"Do you have an idea?" Riku asked.

Simba opened his mouth again, then closed it, and then spoke. "Organization or not, it's pretty clear to me that this was done intentionally by someone who wants to harm Sora. That's why they went for Twilight Town, because they knew that Roxas still thought of it as his home. They knew they could use it to separate him from the group, giving whoever it is the chance to capture him."

"Not to mention the darkness keeps us from following him into the town easily," Riku said.

"I'm not sure what powers the Organization has." Simba went on. "But, from what everyone has told me about their past movements… they might have the motivation to set a trap for Roxas, but they would have no reason to target any other world. My world. Unless the two disappearances have nothing to do with one another at all."

"So then, you think that it could have been Maleficent?" Leon said in a hard voice.

"That's very possible," Riku said. "She already attacked Disney Castle and made it very clear that she wasn't finished with Roxas. Maleficent could have joined forces with her old partners again. And if that's the case, we have a very, very large problem to add to our collection."

"Maleficent was the one that nearly caused the destruction of my world the first time," Simba said. "I had to exist in a shard of my world before Sora defeated Ansem and put all the worlds back to normal. All of this feels like exactly the kind of thing that she would do."

He knew he was playing a dangerous game by telling his new allies what he  _knew_  was really going on here. But then, he reminded himself, technically his mission was just to hand over Roxas when Hades told him to. He could deal with the moral repercussions of that one later. He had no obligation to hide Maleficent's plans.

Not to mention, it was personal now. No one told him his world would get taken.

There was heavy silence all around.

"Well, ain't this great." Cid spoke up suddenly. "We could be overflowing with Heartless any second now, and the only Keyblader not missing or unconscious is Riku!"

"If that happens, we'll just have to fight the best we can," Simba said.

Riku was staring down at the screen with the world map. Suddenly he started and leaned to look at it closer.

"I don't believe it," he breathed in sharply.

"What is it?" Leon asked.

"Pull up the world map on your side," Riku said. "I don't know if this is a malfunction, or what…"

"What do you see?" Leon said, quickly clicking here and there to bring up the map on his end.

"Look at Twilight Town again. There is a slightly superimposed effect here. It's hard to see because of the darkness, but it looks like one Twilight Town is hiding behind the other."

"The real one, hiding behind the simulated one?" Leon said quickly.

"But how do we get to it?" Simba asked.

Cid leaned across Leon and started typing on the keyboard. "Roxas' Twilight Town is a computer-made copy. It's solid enough to see on the map, but there's no technology that can make a real world."

"So then…" Leon said slowly, "If we could find a way, we could jam up the system and make the simulation go away?"

"Ev'n better!" Cid leaned closer to the screen and grinned into the camera, completely blocking Leon from view. "That real Twilight Town is connected in all kinds of ways to DiZ's computer. All we have to do is go around the darkness and link directly to the computer in the real Twilight Town. If we can link to the computer in the real town, we should be able to shut the simulation down."

"Golly!"

Everyone looked to the door, surprised.

"Your Majesty!" Riku said, sounding intensely relieved.

Mickey laughed and came in. Minnie was still trailing after him anxiously. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Merlin and Aerith healed me right up. I was protected from the darkness thanks to my coat."

"Come on, Your Majesty," Riku said with a smile despite himself. "You could have handled worse."

"How are the other two?" Leon said from behind them, still watching everything on the screen.

Minnie shook her head sadly. "As far as we can tell, there's nothing wrong with them. They're just asleep. All we can do is wait for them to wake up. Maybe…maybe they'll wake up when Sora does?" she held onto Mickey's arm as if afraid to let go.

"Maybe." Mickey said, worry creeping into his voice too. "I wish that we could help more. But Merlin said that the best we can do is keep them safe here until they wake up. Maybe being home will help. Maybe their hearts will tell them that they're free."

"We think we found a way to get to the real Twilight Town. We should go see if Roxas and DiZ are there," Riku said.

"I'll be able to hack into this DiZ's computer system in no time," Cid said smugly. "We'll be able to get you in there, no prob."

"Should you really…" Minnie started.

"Don't worry," Mickey grasped her hands. "I'm fine, and besides, the real Twilight Town isn't covered in darkness. Roxas rescued Donald and Goofy. Now it's our turn. We've got to find him before someone else does!"

"You are right," she said. "Just be careful."

* * *

Sora stared down at the water as it splashed into the tub. Everything in this bathroom was blank white, too. The lights lining the walls were soft, though, so it didn't hurt his eyes. They were situated near the ceiling and dim enough to be soothing rather than harsh. His bare feet on the cold floor made him shiver slightly. His skin felt cool, as if his body was reluctant to give off any heat of its own.

He caught something brown in the corner of his eye and realized it was his reflection. He shuffled over to look at his face in the mirror.

He looked at his own eyes, shockingly blue in the sterile, overwhite surroundings. He could see the vacancy and sleepiness clouding them.

It should have unsettled him that he couldn't even recognize himself, but he couldn't muster up the feeling.

Slowly it occurred to him that the water had been running for quite awhile. He turned to look at the tub. It was getting very full, so he turned the water off. He hung his pristine white towel on the hook beside the tub and carefully stepped in, hanging on to the hand rails that had been thoughtfully provided. His limbs shook with the effort. Slowly the warm water embraced him and he relaxed. It was really nice. The tub was so deep that the water came to his shoulders as he sat on the bottom. He stretched his feet out to the end and leaned his head back on the headrest.

Sora stared at the ceiling, trying to get his brain to work, trying to collect everything he could remember. He knew he was supposed to beat the Heartless, but he wasn't sure why. Whatever it was, though, he was sure it was something important. He felt like something he'd been doing a long time.

 _Is that why I came here?_  he wondered.  _Because there are lots of Heartless here? Did it have to do with my mission?_

He supposed the people that lived here didn't know him, or else they would have known why he was here.

For a moment he mulled over Jiminy's reluctance to tell him anything and he and Roxas' warnings not to tell Organization XIII about them, as if the residents of the castle were not to be trusted. And yet, they had helped him, saved him when he had been at the mercy of the Heartless.

He frowned as he struggled to put all the floating pieces of knowledge in his head together. Maybe it wasn't that the Organization wasn't to be trusted. Maybe  _they_  didn't trust anyone. Maybe they didn't like anyone to be in their fortress who wasn't supposed to be. But wouldn't things be all cleared up if it was just explained to them that Jiminy had gone unconscious when Sora had? He didn't see what the big deal was.

 _I'll just ask him,_  Sora decided. He briefly considered asking Jiminy about Roxas, too, but then decided it would be better to wait. Roxas hadn't just said not to tell Organization XIII about him. He had said not to tell  _anyone_. Sora had no intention of breaking that promise. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try his best to find out why he'd had to make it.

Sora held his breath and slid under the water. The heat stung his face slightly, but it felt good on his scalp. He knew he ought to wash his hair, but just the thought of shampooing made him feel tired. It wasn't like he fussed over his own appearance much anyway.

 _Hm._  he thought, vaguely watching the thin stream of bubbles coming from his nose. There was one thing he knew about himself. What else did he know?

He hadn't recognized his reflection, but part of it was familiar. The shape of his face. His eyes. Familiar, but not because he knew them to be his. Sora struggled to make sense of it.

He remembered a dark meadow under the stars, and a small smile. He'd forgotten it until now. That was the last time he'd talked to Roxas, right before waking up. Roxas looked like him. He realized that now. But why would that be? Were they… brothers?

The more he pushed his mind to come up with the answer, the foggier it felt. His head felt warm and heavy.

Yes, he would definitely have to ask, he decided.

* * *

Roxas wondered how this could have happened. How could he have been sucked back into his old life so easily? Even more strangely, how had the real versions of his friends fallen for it, too?

Was he somehow still inside of the computer program created by DiZ? When he lost consciousness, the whole place had still been covered in darkness. From the moment he woke back up in front of the mansion, he'd assumed that he was in the real place. But how was that possible?

The fact that he had been taken in so easily was disturbing. Had Mickey been right when he said a Nobody's entire being was defined by its memories? Roxas clenched Sleeping Lion's keychain in his hand, the thing that had brought it all back. He was grateful that Leon and the others had given it to him.

The train slowly came to a stop. Roxas reluctantly heaved himself up from the bench and descended onto the platform. The only thing he could think of was to go back to the mansion. He now remembered how he had used the paths of darkness to land in Twilight Town in the first place. But as before when he'd tried it, he couldn't get the path to open up now. So, the best chance he had of getting out of here was to go to the mansion and try to break back into the darkness.

Roxas blinked in the afternoon sun as he stepped outside. Something in the air felt strange. Like the pressure was all wrong. He saw something move out of the corner of his eye and dived away just as a Soldier Heartless clawed at where he was standing.

Roxas ran down the stairs, looking around wildly. More Heartless were starting to wriggle and claw their way up from the ground. Sleeping Lion flew into his hand before he even had time to think about it.

"Can't get away from you, can I?" he grumbled as he moved into a fighting stance.

* * *

Mickey, Riku, and Simba appeared in front of the train station, tense and alert. The warm sky of Twilight Town cast over everything a comforting orange tint. A few people wandered to and from the train station. Unlike its computerized double, nothing whatsoever seemed to be amiss in the real Twilight Town.

"Where should we start looking?" Mickey wondered.

"Let's try at the old mansion first," Riku said. "That's where he would have come in through. And maybe we'll be able to find DiZ there."

"Who is that?" Simba asked as they started following Riku. "Does he have something to do with Roxas?"

"He was the one that was trying to Sora's memories before the Organization kidnapped him," Riku explained. "DiZ just suddenly showed up out of nowhere at Castle Oblivion after Sora had already lost most of his memories. I know that he must have had an ulterior motive for helping Sora, but he never gave away any of his plans. One time I point-blank asked him what it was he wanted, and all he said was, 'revenge.' I guess he knew that Sora would probably go after the Organization at some point, if they kept messing with the worlds. That doesn't reveal a lot, though. Who knows what the Organization has done to make people want to get revenge on them?"

"D'ya think he went after the Organization himself?" Mickey said.

Riku gave a bitter laugh. "If it turns out he knew the location of the Organization's headquarters all along, he's not going to be happy the next time he sees me. It wouldn't surprise me at all, though. I had to get there somehow in order to capture Roxas. It's just convenient that I forgot how."

"So if we can find this DiZ, we can get him to tell us how to find Sora?" Simba asked.

" _If_  we can find him. I feel like if he hasn't contacted us by now, it's because he doesn't want to," Riku said.

"Riku, look," Mickey said as they entered Tram Common. "Aren't those Roxas' Twilight Town friends?"

Hayner, Pence, and Olette were standing in front of one of the shops, chatting animatedly with the girl behind the counter.

"Do you think he would be with them if he was here?" Mickey wondered.

"I don't know, but we have to ask them at least," Riku said. "Come on."

Riku strode up to the group, Mickey and Simba close behind. As they approached, the kids' conversation faltered and they turned to stare at them apprehensively.

"Excuse me," Riku said. "Sorry to bother you, but do any of you know a kid named Roxas? We're looking for him. He's got blonde, spiky hair, and he should be wearing a coat like ours."

The kids didn't answer, they just stared at him. Riku noticed Hayner sidle protectively in front of Olette.

"How would we know?" he said bluntly. "We haven't seen him. But you should find him and get going before Seifer's gang sees you here. They're not very nice to suspicious outsiders."

Riku felt a stab of annoyance. He had to admit that they  _did_  look very suspicious. He had a really bad habit of forgetting that he didn't look like a cool, casually attractive teenager anymore– rather, he was a tall, muscular man with sinisterly burning orange eyes. Mickey clearly didn't belong here either, and the two of them were wearing their black coats on top of that. Simba probably looked the most normal out of all of them, but even he had his tawny-red eyes and clothes that clearly did not belong here.

Mickey laid a hand on Riku's arm as he clenched his fists. "C'mon, they haven't seen him, so let's keep moving along."

"Okay," Riku said. They kept walking, the kids' apprehensive (and in Hayner's case, defiant) stares following them the whole way.

* * *

Roxas was running, feet slapping painfully against the cobbled Station Heights. His boots were still back at the beach. Somehow the area outside the train station had become flooded with Heartless, exactly like how it had been at Disney Castle when he had to practically swim through them. He ran because he knew the Heartless would chase after him. He did not want them to stay there outside the train station.

 _I hope they didn't follow me. I hope they stayed at the beach. Please let them have stayed at the beach,_  Roxas thought for the dozenth time. It took a lot of willpower to keep from turning back around and running to find his friends to make sure they were safe.

The Heartless were gaining on him. Whoever had sent the vile things after him was definitely giving him a run for his money. Very soon he would have to stand and fight.

_Even if I make it to the mansion, what good will it do if the Heartless follow me into the darkness? I've got to figure out a way to get rid of them._

Lungs burning, Roxas plunged into the shade of the small forest beyond the wall of Tram Common. He intended to make his stand there, in the woods, where he could weave in and out of the trees and evade the Heartless more easily.

It didn't take him long to discover that this idea had several flaws. For one, he was still barefoot. It had been bearable on the paving stones in town, but now he kept stepping on sharp sticks and tripping over rough roots. Even worse, it was harder to see in the dim light. The Heartless hid themselves and attacked whenever he came by.

Roxas whirled around, running and turning on a dime, Sleeping Lion flashing. It was like running through a haunted forest, ghosts and brambles reaching out to grab and tear at him.

"Fira!"

Roxas yelled it out of instinct, frustrated by the lack of light and the sharp claws clinging to him. He was surprised when blindingly bright flames erupted around him, spun briefly, then vanished.

But now there was a new problem.

"Shit!" Roxas bit out as a clump of nearby bushes caught fire and went up alarmingly fast. Now there was smoke hindering his vision and stinging his eyes.

Axel probably would have laughed at him. Of all the spells he could have chosen to suddenly remember, he had to choose fire? In the middle of the forest? The Heartless were no longer trying to get at him. But the fire was spreading, and unless he did something soon, he was going to die by his own stupid hand.

"Roxas!" he heard a voice.

Coughing and squinting through streaming eyes, Roxas looked around wildly for the source of the voice. Come to think of it, he wasn't entirely certain that he'd heard it out loud. Had it come from somewhere inside his head, or was he just losing it?

"Did somebody say something?" he choked out, not loud enough that anybody would be able to hear him, especially not amid the crackling flames and his own labored breathing.

Suddenly he felt someone grab his arm and heard a voice in his ear. "Roxas, what's happening?"

Roxas looked at the hand on his arm and then quickly looked up to see Sora's shocked, pale face.

"Sora?" Roxas choked out. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know!" Sora said, his voice rising in panic. "What is all of this?"

A Neo Heartless dived out at them from the smoke and Roxas barely had the time to slash through it with the Keyblade before it could rip Sora apart.

"Was that a Heartless?" Sora said, sounding stunned.

Suddenly the ground below them turned into a wide circle of black. Tendrils of darkness rose up rose up from it lazily. The fire stayed at the edge of the circle, but they soon had an even bigger problem– they were sinking into it.

"Roxas!" Sora grabbed his arm again. He didn't seem to be sinking as quickly. "I woke up, just like you said I would. How did you know? And why don't you want me to tell anyone about you talking to me?"

Roxas thought he could feel a cold hand wrapping around his other wrist, tugging on it, pulling him into the darkness faster.

"Forget about that! You just need to run before the Heartless pull you down!" he yelled.

But Sora had already let go of his arm. His eyes widened and he doubled over, clutching his chest.

"I can't… breathe…" he choked out.

Roxas felt another insistent tug on his wrist. He didn't hear any words spoken out loud, but in his head he heard,  _'Hurry! The portal won't stay open for long!'_

"What?" Roxas squirmed uselessly. Whoever had him would not let go. He was very quickly losing strength. "Let… me go… "

_'Don't worry. It will be alright. You are getting out of here.'_

"It'll be alright? How can you say that?" Roxas muttered weakly. A familiar cold settled over him, replacing the smoke with its own dusty smell. He was moving, but there was no wind or sense of motion. Through jumbled and confused thoughts, he understood only one thing: the darkness was covering him, leaving the forest behind.


	17. The Lion Sleeps Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [All previous chapters were originally posted in '07-'08. Chapters 17-18 were posted in 2011]

"What is he doing?  _What is that little punk doing?_ " Hades seethed. "We had Roxas in the bag, and just like that, it all gets undone by this goody-goody's second thoughts!"

"If anyone has the right to complain, it's me." Maleficent snapped. "It isn't my fault that you, in your incompetence, can't control your own minions!"

"That… _furball!_  Okay, so maybe taking his world away was a bit much. But still, did he have to turn around and tell them our plans?" Hades ran his hand over his flame-hair several times and took deep, calming breaths. "Obviously, a bit more control is in order. We'll have to think of another way. In the meantime…" he snapped his fingers and produced a small wooden carving shaped like a lion. "I'm going to have a little chat with our kitty friend."

"See that you do. I'm going to see if I can still salvage this mess you've made." Maleficent said furiously. She lifted up her staff and vanished in a plume of green-and-black fire.

Hades muttered a few choice names for Maleficent under his breath.

"Panic! Pain!" he roared.

"Y-yes, your evilness?"

Hade's demon lackeys trembled on the floor nearby.

"I'm going out for a bit." Hades commanded. "If you get so much as a  _whiff_  of one of those insufferable Organization idiots, let me know. After you set Cerberus on them." He paused. "Did I just say 'insufferable'?" he shook his head. "I need to stop hanging around that witch."

"Yes, your most hideous hideousness."

Hades shot them with a warning glare before leaving.

Very soon, a certain lion-turned-human would not be having a good day.

* * *

"Well, this wasn't here before," Riku commented.

He, Mickey, and Simba had stepped through the hole in the wall that led to the forest. The clearing in front of the hole was scorched dark black, and some of the surrounding bushes were also charred. It looked as if a small explosion had gone off. The smell of burned leaves and a lingering trace of darkness remained. Whatever had had happened here had not been that long ago.

"Any progress?" Leon's voice came from the Gummi Communicator Riku had put on. It was similar to the communicators they used in Hollow Bastion, except that it was capable of working across worlds through the Gummi Ship. It looked like a brightly-colored, rather ostentatious watch.

"We haven't seen any sign of Roxas," Riku said into it. "But we did find a strange burned-up part of the woods. It's only confined to a small area. And I can smell darkness. Something happened here very recently."

"Maleficent, do you think?" Leon said.

"Possibly," Riku's borrowed orange eyes flickered back in forth between the shadows of the forest, looking for any signs of the witch. "Anyway, we need to hurry on to DiZ's lab. There should be a computer there we can use to connect to the virtual Twilight Town's controls."

"Lead the way, Riku," Mickey said. "We'll flank you and keep an eye out. If she is here, I get the feeling we'll know about it before too long."

"Let us know when you reach the lab," Leon said. "Be careful."

They crept cautiously through the woods, Riku in front with the other two slightly behind, staring into the dimness. Mickey looked left and Simba looked right. Everything was unusually quiet, as if all the wildlife had fled. Simba thought he caught flickering movement out of his peripheral vision, and he stared hard at the cluster of trees where it had been, eyes narrowed. His lion's senses had not been diminished by his transformation, but he could not smell anything coming from that spot. He got the strong feeling it was something that wasn't normally found in this forest.

Simba betrayed them at first, just as Hades and Maleficent had planned. When he was sitting outside the inn at Hollow Bastion watching the crowds go by, he overheard Riku and Mickey talking about taking Roxas out on the Gummi Ship to investigate more worlds.

He had quietly gone back to his hotel room to report what he heard through the enchanted mirror he'd been given.

Simba did not think the two villains were going to launch their plan to kidnap Roxas right away. He thought he would just be reporting Roxas' movements for the time being. He thought that playing along would give him enough time to figure out how to double-cross them without putting the Pride Lands in danger.

Then it had all gone to hell when Twilight Town reappeared swathed in darkness and Roxas had disappeared.

Simba felt personally responsible, which was why he had suggested that this was a set-up by the same person who was making the worlds disappear. True, he hadn't actually said 'Maleficent', but he had hinted everyone in the right direction.

He had no doubt that Hades and Maleficent were watching his every move. If anything happened here, he would defend the other two the best he could and hopefully give them time to escape, at the very least.

"We're coming up on the mansion," Riku said quietly.

Everything looked calm at the old abandoned house. Curtains fluttered eerily in the upper windows, but there was no movement otherwise.

"Let's keep moving," Riku said.

They cautiously made their way into the silent mansion. The orange evening light cast long shadows over the ruined décor and their steps echoed loudly despite the carpeted floor.

"The lab is underneath here," Riku said. "We have to go upstairs to the study in order to reach it, though. There's a switch to open it up."

There was a statue in the corner that had an even longer shadow than it should have in the light of the setting sun. Simba paused to stare at it when he thought he saw it twitch slightly.

* * *

"So Sora's memories aren't gone? They are just unlinked and hidden?" Jiminy said.

"Yes," said Naminé. "Even I don't have the power to erase them completely. And the Organization isn't making me create fake memories to cover them up with. So there is a chance that I can arrange the links in such a way that everything will come back to him if he remembers a single thing. If I keep everything intact except for the very last link in the chain, the memories should remain hidden even if the Organization questions him."

"But what if they do question him, and set off his memories by accident?"

"That won't happen," Naminé said confidently. "I'll have to be really careful about what I choose as the anchor, but it won't be something the Organization will be able to find."

Jiminy turned his top hat over and over in his hands worriedly.

"Okay…" he said slowly. "Say that all of that works out and they don't figure out your plan. That won't help us get out of here. We need to escape before we can worry about fixing Sora's memories."

Naminé smiled hesitantly. "I… have an idea for that too, but you probably won't like it."

Jiminy jumped to his feet in surprise. "You have figured out a way to get us out of here? What is it?"

"Just as a last resort. It will take some time, so it will only be necessary if we can't figure out something in the meantime."

"What is it?"

"Well…" Naminé tucked a lock of golden hair behind her ear. "I already told you they're trying to build a replica of Kingdom Hearts. But I don't think they captured Sora just to keep him from interfering with their plans. The Keyblade is actually a really big  _part_  of their plans. When a Heartless is slain with the Keyblade, it sets the heart free and it is attracted to the mass of hearts they are making." Naminé stared down at her sketchbook in order to avoid looking Jiminy in the eye. "If I make the anchor based on a place or a person, then everything would be restored when he sees it. If he is strong enough to be out of here to see it, then he will be strong enough to free himself when the memories come back. What I'm trying to say is… eventually we won't  _have_  to help Sora escape, because he'll be sent out from this world to gather hearts for the Organization. He'll be able to free himself."

"We can't wait until they decide to use him to get hearts!" Jiminy said, startled. "Sora fighting the Heartless isn't a really bad thing, but I don't think they'd let him leave this world unless they thought he's on their side! Otherwise he might try to run away, right? They aren't going to let him roam free until he's too much theirs to try to escape."

"Yes. That's the part I thought you might not like so much. The Organization will have to believe that he is on their side." Naminé glanced at Jiminy and saw his dismayed face. She added quickly, "But everything will be reversed once his memories come back. Even if he is on their side, he'll remember who he is. He will be strong enough to escape."

Jiminy was still frowning, so Naminé leaned closer to him, her eyes pleading. "Listen. I know it isn't the ideal situation, but you have to trust me. The Organization won't hesitate to dispose of him if they think that he isn't going to be useful. I already had to live through watching them manipulate him once. It was horrible, but in the end no lasting damage was done. I know that my plan can save him. We can't give Sora a reason to be suspicious. If we do, the Organization might enforce harsher restraints on him. They might make me cover up his memories with fake ones like last time. That don't want to do it because it would take longer, but that doesn't mean they won't. If that happens, there will be no way for him to access his real memories without another long restoration process. It could permanently damage his memory."

"I–"

Suddenly there was a ripping sound in the air and a plume of darkness appeared in the room. Naminé gave a soft cry and unceremoniously stuffed Jiminy under Sora's pillow.

"Delivery," Xigbar said in a bland voice as he appeared. He was holding a bowl of spaghetti– obviously Sora's dinner. "Sorry it's not that great, it was Xaldin's turn to cook and he doesn't know how do to anything."

He looked around and saw that his only audience was Naminé, looking up at him nervously from her chair.

"Oh, you're still here?" Xigbar put the bowl down on the desk. "I thought they gave you a room up here when you got moved. Where's the kid?"

"He's… he's in the bathroom. I'll go tell him you brought his food," Naminé said, hastily getting up from her chair.

"I'll be glad when he can get his own damn food. We're not a hotel," Xigbar muttered as Naminé walked over to the bathroom door.

"Sora?" she called, knocking on the door.

* * *

Roxas floundered in the dark pointlessly, still caught up in the instinct of battle and the knowledge that he didn't have full control over the situation. He kicked out hard and felt his foot connect with something…or someone. There was no response, no curse or grunt of pain. But Roxas felt the grip on his wrist vanish.

"Who's there?" Roxas said, and found, to his surprise, that his voice came out clearly, echoing eerily through what must have been a vast, empty space.

There was no answer. Roxas listened intently, but the presence that had dragged him into the darkness seemed to be gone.

He realized he was lying down. He sat up.

"Sora?" Roxas tried. "Are you here?"

No answer there, either.

 _Why was he in Twilight Town?_  Roxas wondered, massaging his forehead with his knuckles in an attempt to clear his head. Nothing that had happened since he dived into the darkness of the simulated Twilight Town made any sense. He tried to think back and pick out the exact moment when things had started to get weird. Clearly, it was after he'd rescued Donald and Goofy. He remembered waking up in the real Twilight Town afterward, but what happened in between? It was a blank.

 _I went unconscious_ , he realized. After Riku left with Donald and Goofy, he'd tried to struggle his way to the computer room. But he'd been so overwhelmed with the darkness that he passed out again. But if he'd been overwhelmed, how did he end up in front of the old mansion, and in the  _real_  Twilight Town?

Roxas tried looking around, but he might has well have kept his eyes closed for all the good it did. The realm he was in was completely blank, but it was peaceful. It was the darkness, but stable somehow. It reminded him of the chilly, matte black pulse he'd found to open the dark path to Twilight Town. Perhaps this was a corridor as well. He'd gone through the last one so quickly that it was impossible to remember if it had been like this or not.

Roxas held his arms out in front of him and tried to feel around for the cold pulse that would take him out of here. He had to go back to the forest. Putting aside the fact that Sora's appearance there had been illogical, what if he was still there? Roxas wasn't sure  _what_  he felt about Sora at this point, but he did at least know that he didn't want him dead. And what in all the worlds would happen if Sora lost his heart  _again_? Would another Nobody be created, or would he simply become a Heartless with no Nobody? Either way, he wasn't prepared to find out. He had to try to go back.

* * *

Mickey and Riku stood in front of the computer in DiZ's deserted lab, having successfully logged in (Riku had known DiZ's password; not that 'sea salt ice cream' was that difficult of a password for a so-called technical genius). Meanwhile, the Hollow Bastion crowd was huddled around Cid's computer, minus Aerith, who had stayed at Disney Castle to look after Donald and Goofy.

"Why isn't anything happening?" Yuffie complained. "I thought that we were supposed to break  _into_  Twilight Town, not sit and stare at a picture of it all day long."

Twilight Town appeared before them on the screen, the superimposed effect more obvious under the close-up view. The fake town was wavering and flickering ominously.

"This is what happens when we put all of our hopes on technology." Merlin snorted contemptuously.

"Get off my back! I'm not equipped to handle this kind of thing." Cid said with his teeth gritted, typing away furiously at his keyboard. "I don't know what kind of high-tech system this DiZ guy is running, but it's all I can do to keep it from frying up the computer's insides and draining us of all power."

"Kind of like Riku on Cid's cooking." Yuffie said with a grin.

"Maybe we should stop, then, if the town's in danger." Mickey said in concern from the split-screen monitor. "We don't want to lose power, especially not when it comes to the security grid."

"I can handle it!" Cid said tensely. "Just gimmie a few more– bingo!"

He thumbed his nose and grinned back at all of them. On his screen, a blueprint of Twilight Town and multiple windows full of scrolling code appeared.

"What did you find?" Yuffie asked. "A map and a bunch of numbers?"

"I'm in to the system controls of the Twilight Town simulation program," Cid went back to typing and tinkering away. "With this, firs' of all, I should be able to see all the Heartless, Nobodies, and other real-world objects in the simulation."

"It's the map that shows where all the non-virtual objects are," Riku confirmed. "DiZ used this to keep an eye on attempted invasions by the Organization. If Roxas is there, he should show up as a red dot."

Cid expanded the map and they all spent a couple of minutes studying it. There were so many Heartless swarming all over the map that it was hard to see anything else.

"I can see a few lesser Nobodies, those white dots," Riku said. "Are they just leftovers, or is the Organization also investigating Twilight Town, I wonder?"

"They are in the lab, exactly where we are standing, except they're in the other Twilight Town," Mickey said. "Oh!" he gasped when they disappeared.

"I guess they didn't find anything," Leon said. "Because Roxas is not on here anywhere."

They were silent for another moment, every eye searching, but it was true. Roxas was not showing up on any of DiZ's sensors. Cid typed in an inquiry to be sure, but it came up negative.

"Given that this entire program was made to contain Roxas, if it says he ain't there, he ain't there," Cid concluded.

"Well, we can only hope that those Nobodies being there means the Organization hasn't found him yet," Yuffie said.

"…Unless they found him just now while we were watching." Leon commented.

"I looked in the lab when I chased after him before, and I did not see him," Mickey said. "Welp, the only thing we know for sure is that he isn't there. So is there a way you can shut down the program for good, Cid?"

"Seein' as how destroying the program would be a much less delicate operation than trying to break into it, I reckon I could do that no problem. But I'd like to make a copy of it and all of this guy DiZ's data before I do."

"Good idea," Leon agreed. "We'll need any information he might have on the Organization."

"What about the Heartless?" Merlin said. "The ones that have made their way into that program surely won't disappear along with it. Mickey, Riku, be on your guard."

Riku summoned his blade and stood in front of the portal that came from the simulation. "If any of them try coming through here, our top priority will be to keep them from escaping into the town," he said to Mickey. "Can you put a barrier over the exit?"

Mickey nodded and put his hand in the air. A thin, rainbow-tinged barrier clinged and pinged over the entrance to the lab. A keyhole appeared in the middle. This would be a barrier only the Keyblade could unlock.

"Good, we're ready," Riku said into the communicator.

"Riku… where's Simba?" Mickey said suddenly.

Riku whirled around, startled. "He didn't follow us in here? He was right behind us upstairs–"

"Program's shut down," Cid announced just as Riku heard a whooshing behind him. He spun around just in time to block a staff being swung at his head.

"Maleficent!" he spat.

She was standing in front of the teleporter, small flames just barely flickering at the edges of her voluminous dress. Her eyes glowed eerily in the dim computer-lit room.

" _Ansem_ ," she said disdainfully, stretching out one long hand to point at him. "I never imagined  _you_  would be siding with His Majesty."

Hatred flared up in Riku faster than it had in a long time. Being in proximity with the one that had lured him away from his friends made him want to peel off his skin even more than usual.

"I am not Ansem!" he snarled. "My name is Riku. Not that I would expect you to remember the  _child_  whose life you ruined." He lunged at her, but as he put his blade right through her chest, Maleficent's body flickered and moved like flame, melting and twisting and reappearing behind him.

"First it was Ansem in the boy's body, and now the opposite," she said. "Either way, you are determined to kill me, aren't you? You really mustn't be so angry. I only showed you the truth of what your so-called friends really think of you."

"This entire plot was your doing, wasn't it, Maleficent?" Mickey demanded. "What have you done with Roxas? And DiZ? And where is Simba?"

"Mmmm?" her eyes flashed in his direction. "I do not know this 'DiZ' person you speak of. Your friend Simba caught sight of my colleague upstairs. I imagine he is a bit indisposed right now. As for Roxas, I was dearly hoping you would be able to answer the same question. Despite the fact that he fell into our trap admirably, he now seems to have completely disappeared from Twilight Town. I suggest that you hand him over if you do not want this town to disappear instead."

"How are you making worlds disappear from the map?" Riku asked. "And how did you know about the computer program for containing Roxas, if you don't know DiZ?"

"The man who told me about this place did not give his name," Maleficent said smoothly. "I nearly cut him down on sight because of his black coat, but then he said he would give me everything I needed to separate Roxas from the rest of you, in exchange for having his involvement in the matter remain unknown to all. He seemed as equally opposed to Organization XIII as the Light. Of course, now that things have turned out this way, I have no obligation to conceal his involvement. This plan has been full of nothing but incompetent double-crossers."

She 'hmphed' with an imperious wave of her hand and walked past Riku toward the lab door. Mickey's Keyblade flashed in his hands and he stood in front of it determinedly.

"I have a search to make, so I really cannot stay here and waste time with you," Maleficent said.

A huge clawed hand suddenly grabbed her around the middle. She looked behind her and saw a huge, hulking shadow hovering behind Riku, grinning at her under lamp-like eyes.

"You  _dare_  use the power of darkness against me?" Maleficent's voice rose and bright green flames suddenly erupted all around them. Riku spread his arms wide and a ring of blue fire sprung up, replacing the green. Maleficent hissed and melted out of Riku's bodyguard's grip. She went to lunge for Riku, but Mickey jumped high up in the air and brought a long slash downward on her head.

Maleficent gave a bloodcurdling screech and she dissolved in a wisp of black smoke.

"Your time will come, King Mickey!" her piercing scream rang for a second after she was gone. "When I am able to unlock the barriers between the worlds, darkness will reign supreme once again!"

"Of course she escaped again!" Riku struck the floor with his bat-wing blade on the spot where she had disappeared, roaring with frustration.

"Riku! Your Majesty! Answer me!" Leon was yelling at them from the communicator.

Riku tapped the communicator to talk into it. "We didn't get any Heartless, but Maleficent showed up. Call you back in a moment. Keep an eye on Twilight Town and make sure the Heartless aren't trying to invade anywhere."

"Riku, Simba!" Mickey said urgently. He was hurriedly unlocking his own barrier.

"Yes; let's go." Riku marched forward, his summoned companion still looming over him ominously.

* * *

More bravely than he felt, Simba quietly fell back and let the others walk ahead. He kept his gaze focused on that strange shadow in the corner. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

"Well, if it isn't  _Sim_ ba." A cool voice cut through the shadows.

Simba's eyes snapped open.

Hades was leaning against a wall, oozing tendrils of darkness and wearing a very stiff smile.

"Hades." Simba said, trying to sound tough, but coming out as afraid anyway. "So, you, uh, think Roxas is somewhere around here?"

"Nice try. But no." Hades came over to where Simba was, looming over him menacingly. "So, how're you enjoying your life as a human? Comfortable? Made any plans? Like, I don't know,  _ever seeing your home again?"_  the last part came out as a vicious snarl in which Hades flared brightly.

"You did something to the Pride Lands." Simba said defiantly, standing up straight, though his human form was still shorter than Hades. "You never said that would happen. You didn't say anything would happen to my world!"

"Aw, relax. Relax! They're all okay. No one on your world has gotten hurt. They're just…on vacation. I thought that it might be a little extra incentive for you to cooperate with me." Hades put a hand on Simba's shoulder. "And then I find out that you would rather  _tell everyone our plans_ …" the sharp fingers dug in painfully. "Now, why would you go through all the trouble of helping us set Roxas up for a trap, and then give it all away at the last second? Do you want to make me mad?"

"I didn't know you were going to jump him the first chance you got. It seems like you didn't really need me after all. Besides, I don't trust you." Simba said. He tried to shrug away, but Hades still had him in his grip.

"We were so close to nabbing Roxas! This close." Hades held two fingers a small distance apart in front of Simba's face. "But we lost track of him, and you want to know why? Because your meddling friends interfered with the link between the town and the program at exactly the wrong time! That program was designed for the very purpose of watching him, and the only reason we could get it to work in the  _real_  Twilight Town was because of that link. In other words, it is entirely  _your fault_  that the plan failed. Now then." Hades snapped his fingers and produced a simple wooden carving in the shape of a lion. "You broke our deal, which means that now, we're going to do things my way."

"No- wait- aargh!" Simba cried out as sharp prickles of darkness swirled around him, accumulating at the point where Hades' hand was touching him. Rapidly losing energy, Simba half-slumped to his knees.

Distorted images and wild sounds swirled in his head. Figures moved backward and forward, fast and slow motion. Terrible thoughts rushed around and grabbed him by the throat like vicious hyenas made of shadows.

" _I just wanted to be brave, like you."_

" _Dad… c'mon, you gotta get up…"_

" _Simba, what have you done?"_

"You can try to do good, but all you're really capable of is hurting people in the end," Hades said. "You're disgusting."

"No… I didn't mean… for any of this…" Simba choked out.

"This is just like the last time your world disappeared. You hesitated, when you could have been trying to save your friends! They ended up swallowed by the darkness. For all you know, they could have died while you stood back and did nothing. But then, why would you care, as long as you got to survive?"

"I didn't… mean…"

_Nobody needs me._

_It was an accident. I'm not a murderer!_

_It's because of me. It's my fault. It's my fault._

"Now, we're going to come up with a new plan." Hades said calmly. "And when the time comes to enact it, I want you to hand him over to us so smoothly that he won't even know what hit him. Honestly, I can't believe I'm even needing to give you a second chance with this. You know it's Organization XIII we're up against here. I'd think you'd have a little more gratitude toward the kid that saved your world when you couldn't. With Roxas we can find him and set him free, so don't mess it up. Oh yeah, and if the Organization happens to get to Roxas first, I'll come back up here and drag your meaningless soul down to the lowest dungeon in the Underworld. Do we have an understanding?"

"Y-Yes." Simba whispered.

He wasn't sure exactly when Hades left. All he knew for what felt like an eternity was the dim shadows of the room as he lay on the floor staring blankly out at nothing.

Somewhere in the distance he could hear someone calling his name. It sounded like they were underwater. Someone was shaking his shoulder, but he could not feel it.


	18. But Sleeping Lion, Awakens

When Mickey and Riku made it back to the main room in the mansion, they barely caught a glimpse of Hades before he evaporated in smoke like Maleficent. He left Simba crumpled on the floor like a withered, hollow gourd.

"Simba!" Riku called urgently, shaking him. "Can you hear me? Simba!"

The young man's tawny eyes were dull and his body was limp.

"His eyes are open, but I don't think he's conscious," Riku said. He pulled Simba's arm over his shoulders and stood up with him. The creature of darkness that he had summoned still covered their backs protectively.

"No…" Simba said in a dry whisper, startling Riku. "I think… I think I can stand on my own."

"Take it easy, now," Mickey said.

Riku looked at him very concernedly but unhooked his arm and carefully let Simba stand on his own. He remained close, however, in case the other boy suddenly lost balance.

"We have to find Roxas," Simba said, sounding like he was a thousand years old. "They're after him…"

"Here, drink this," Riku said, handing Simba a Megalixir. "And you are right, but I don't think we have to worry too much. We have no idea where Roxas is, but they don't either. I think we should keep looking in Twilight Town in case we overlooked anything there, since that is where he's most likely to be. And we have to make sure that shutting down the simulation didn't cause any adverse effects here."

"Do you need to go back to the ship?" Mickey asked Simba concernedly.

Simba chugged the Megalixir gratefully. Some of the light returned to his eyes, but he still looked very tired. "I can keep going for a little while. Riku's right, we need to look over the rest of this town as soon as we can."

"Alright," Mickey said, turning to the front doors. "Everyone stay close. Let's go."

* * *

In the woods before the mansion, a dark portal bloomed in the air. First a hand came out like a long precipice, then shoulders and a head, and then Roxas' whole body spilled out onto the ground.

"Ow," he grumbled. "How do they know how to make it appear on the ground every time?"

Gingerly he picked himself up, picking small twigs and leaves off of his borrowed clothes. He was still in the shorts and T-shirt of Hayner's that he had worn to the beach earlier. And of course, he was still barefoot.

Roxas looked around. He could tell that he had landed back in the real Twilight Town because of the scorch marks from the fire he'd stupidly made earlier. Everything was deathly quiet compared to then. There was no sign of what had pulled him into the darkness, nor the Heartless that had attacked him, nor Sora.

Had Sora's appearance there been his imagination, then? Well, no. He couldn't really believe that. One could say that all of their meetings up until now had been in his imagination, but that did not make them any less real.

He closed his eyes and stood still for a moment, concentrating, but he could not even feel Sora's presence. Most likely, then, they had only met because Roxas had been losing consciousness. In that case, there was no point in hanging around here any longer.

Roxas sighed and walked out into Tram Common. He didn't really feel like seeing Mickey and Riku  _or_  Hayner, Pence, and Olette. He'd really made an ass of himself earlier when he fought against all reason to go into the Heartless-infested,  _fake_  town. Someone was baiting him, and he fell for it like a sucker. And he was afraid to face his Twilight Town friends again. He didn't want to lose himself again and become an easy target for whoever had orchestrated this.

 _Run away, then?_  he thought, padding slowly and carefully over the cobblestones. It was the perfect opportunity to get away from the side of the Light. He could more or less control the dark paths now.

But… but.

Lately Roxas had been what he considered the 'real' him– not all of his memories intact, it was true– but for the first time in his life he had been around people that consistently told him he could do what  _he_  wanted to do. Instinctively, he did not want to trust Mickey, Riku, and Sora's other friends because he suspected that in the back of their minds they  _had_  to be planning for him to sacrifice his selfhood for Sora. Yet, their actions up until now had shown that they were concerned for him independently of whatever use they might have for him. Could he even think of it as escaping if they had already said he was free to go?

At this point, even if they stabbed him in the back in the end, they still would have allowed him to live more freely than he ever had before.

The town was as quiet as the forest had been. There were no Heartless anywhere and the civilian traffic was light.

He pushed back the red curtain at the Usual Spot and found his friends sitting there silently, but their gazes snapped quickly to him.

"Roxas!" they all jumped up and came over to him.

"Sorry for running out like that, you guys," Roxas said, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

"What the hell happened to you?" Hayner demanded. "Some shady looking guys in black coats came asking about you. We thought you had gotten kidnapped or something!"

"We thought we would never see you again," Olette had tears in her eyes.

"What did these people look like? Aside from the coats that is," Roxas said.

"There was a really tall guy with white hair and orange eyes," Pence said. "Then there was a really short one with big round ears. And there was a third guy who wasn't wearing a coat, but he looked like he was wearing a lot of eye makeup."

Roxas laughed as an unexpected feeling came over him. Feeling? Was that what it was? A… some kind of sensation.

"Those are my friends," he said. "I kind of ran off on them, too. They all look very strange, but they are good people."

"So are you going to explain what's going on here?" Hayner asked.

"I…" Roxas looked at each of their faces and then looked down. "I'm sorry. I lied to all of you. I'm not actually from this town. Sort of. It's hard to explain. And I am not just a student visiting for the summer."

"We brought your clothes back from the beach," Olette said hesitantly, gesturing toward the couch, where a bag lay. "You were wearing the same coat as those guys when we first saw you."

"Who are you, then?" Hayner asked.

"I'd like to explain, but it is pretty unbelievable," Roxas admitted.

"Your friends are just about unbelievable too, but we saw them with our own eyes," Pence said.

"Okay," Roxas took a deep breath. "I can't really get into all the details, but me and my friends are world-travelers. That is, there are worlds other than this one, hundreds and hundreds of them, and we are able to cross over the barriers keeping them apart and travel to them."

There was silence all around.

"Up until recently, I didn't know about it either. Or, I mean, I had known about it, but someone erased my memory." Roxas rubbed the back of his head sheepishly again. "Well, all that is a really long story, but basically, someone manipulated my memories and fabricated a completely different life for me inside of a computer simulation that was modeled after this town."

"…but why?" Olette asked.

"Like I said, it's a really long story," Roxas shook his head. "I'm not even clear on all the details myself. Anyway, my friends found and rescued me, but my memory has still been messed up ever since. So when I came here, to the real version of the town, I… I got confused and forgot who I was again for a little while. So you see, I didn't mean to trick you all. I saw this," he took the keychain for Sleeping Lion out of his pocket and showed it to them. "One of my friends gave this to me. It jogged my memory out there on the beach. I ran away because I thought this was a trap. I didn't want any of you to be in danger. We…" he hesitated for a moment. "When I lived inside the simulation, we were all friends. The man who digitized the town copied all the people, too."

"This is insane," Hayner said. "But I can somehow believe that we know you in an alternate version of this world."

The other two nodded.

"It feels like we've known you forever," Pence added.

Roxas smiled. "So… if you aren't too weirded out by this… I guess… thank you. And I'm sorry."

"So, what are you going to do now?" Hayner asked as Roxas walked over to the couch and flung the bag over his shoulder.

"Are you leaving?" Olette asked.

Roxas looked at all three standing in front of him. It was amazing, really. Technically, they didn't even really know each other. But there they were, looking at him expectantly. Accepting him.

"I wish that I could stay and forget myself again," he said. "It's kind of a bad habit I have. But I met someone that prefers the truth no matter how painful it is, and I can tell that he is stronger than me because of it. Once, he called me out for being just like someone I would rather not be compared to, and he was right. I can't claim to be my own person if I don't have the strength to make it happen."

"Well, it's no problem if we become friends for real, right?" Hayner clapped Roxas on the shoulder. "So come back and see us sometime. We won't forgive you if you forget about us."

"Don't say that," Olette chided. "If he has memory problems, it wouldn't be his fault."

"She's right," Roxas said with a wince. "But I'll do my best."

"Promise?" Hayner held up his arm.

Roxas crossed arms with him. "Promise."

* * *

Sora was pulled up violently and he gasped for breath, blinking through the water in his eyes. He hung over the edge of the bathtub, coughing and sputtering as someone slapped him on the back.

"Could you at least  _try_  not to die while I'm here?" a voice above him said. "That would be a real bummer."

Sora looked up and struggled to focus on the person standing in front of him. He could see the trademark black coat that the other man had been wearing, but the voice was different.

"Upsy-daisy," the man picked Sora up under his arms and dragged him out before wrapping him in a white terry-cloth bathrobe and tying it. "Jeez, you're almost worse than a newly born Nobody. About as blank as one too, from what I've heard. I really hope you can at least manage to feed yourself."

"W-who are you?" Sora asked between coughs as the man sat him down on a bench.

"Xigbar is what they call me," he said. "So that works. I came here to bring you some food, but then you decided to take a nap and nearly drown yourself."

Sora coughed a few more times quietly. He wasn't really able to focus very well on Xigbar's words. His mind was still back with the burning woods and Roxas' panicked expression and the Heartless.

"The Heartless…" he murmured.

"Hm, have you remembered something? Sure hope it was worth it." Xigbar walked to the door. "Hold on; be back in just a second."

Now that he was slowly becoming more awake, Sora shivered a little bit. It still felt like his body couldn't stay properly warm. He pulled the edges of the robe around him more tightly and crossed his arms. Slowly he stood up, trying to gauge his strength. It seemed like standing was alright. The door opened and Xigbar came back in. Now Sora could see him clearly. He looked different from expected; long black hair tied into a ponytail with a long gray streak through it, a scarred face and an eye patch. He looked much older than Sora would have guessed.

"Sorry," Xigbar said. "You're not decent, so I sent Naminé out. Luxord likes to make insinuations badly enough as it is. You can change after you eat if you feel like it then."

Sora followed him out of the bathroom slowly and sat down at the little table in the room where a bowl of spaghetti was sitting. It was an almost comically large portion, but his stomach growled and he felt like he could probably eat it all.

"Thanks, I'm starving," Sora said gratefully as he pulled the bowl toward him and picked up the fork beside it.

"That's good, because starvation is about the only way to enjoy Xaldin's cooking," Xigbar said, sitting down as well.

Sora ate silently but ravenously. His eyes wandered around the room. Absolutely everything in it was white except for a box of crayons that sat on a desk. The room had no windows, but soft light came from fixtures near the ceiling. Xigbar stood out dramatically in these blank surroundings. He was slumped back in his chair with his arms crossed and an air of boredom. Sora thought about trying to get some information out of him. If not about himself, at least about where they were.

"You wanna ask me something?" Xigbar said suddenly after catching his eye.

Sora started. "Well… that is…"

"Hey, I'm here to help. So ask away."

Sora chewed, contemplating. "Ok so, who are you guys? All that Naminé and Xemnas told me was that you're a group called Organization XIII and that this place is surrounded by Heartless," he said through half a mouthful of food. "Is that why other people don't usually come here?"

Xigbar sighed. "Jeez. I know the boss is busy, but I'd have thought he could explain it more than that," he scratched his chin. "Well, you're pretty much right. This world is in the realm of twilight, close to the darkness. That is why there are a lot of Heartless, and why there aren't many people here. Other than this castle, this world is pretty much abandoned."

Sora stopped and stared at Xigbar. "Then why did I come here?"

"I don't know, do I?" Xigbar raised an eyebrow. "You're a Keyblade wielder. You fight against the Heartless, so it's probably something to do with that."

"How many of you are here?" Sora asked, astonished. "And why?"

"Hm… well, you remember the Heartless… do you remember what a Heartless  _is?_ "

"It's when… basically, it is when someone loses their heart to the darkness, right?" Sora's face was scrunched in concentration as he tried to remember.

"Basically," Xigbar said blandly. "But sometimes when someone loses their heart, their poor empty shell of a body continues to live on in the form of a new creature, which we call Nobodies."

"I don't remember that part," Sora said, puzzled.

"Not surprising. Nobodies are rarer than Heartless. You may not've known about them even if you  _had_  all your memories. And the rarest of all are the Nobodies that are able to maintain a human form," he pointed at himself with his thumb. "Everyone that lives here is a Nobody."

"You mean, you don't have a heart?" Sora's eyes went wide and he looked his most awake yet.

"Noooope," Xigbar said lazily. "And that's how we're able to live so close to the darkness. The Heartless don't even notice that we're here. Ever since you came, though, we've had to make sure not to leave any windows open, so to speak." He snickered.

Sora dropped his fork.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You'll be safe inside. And staying here should slowly build up your resistance to the darkness, too."

Sora stayed silent for a moment. He remembered Naminé, Jiminy, and Roxas' anxiety about Organization XIII. How the latter two had to be kept secret from them. He wanted to trust the people that were keeping him safe inside their castle, but at the same time, they didn't feel exactly like good guys. He wished he could remember more so that his judgment could be a little better.

"So…" he started slowly.

"Yeah?"

"You don't have hearts, you live far away from where most people can reach, you have a group name and wear uniforms, which is kind of weird," Sora said. "But you saved me, you're taking care of me now, and you don't seem to side with the Heartless. Are you good guys or bad guys?"

Xigbar laughed. "You really are a kid! How can I put this? Nobodies are outcasts. We don't belong to the Dark or the Light. It has some advantages, like how we can use the powers of either side without destroying ourselves, but we lack a sense of self. All we want is to be able to feel that again. So." He shrugged. "That is the goal of the Organization: to find a way for all of us to get our hearts back. We're just a group striving for a goal. Not all Nobodies are like that though, so we don't have the best reputation."

"What do you mean? What do other Nobodies do?"

"Our group had thirteen members once, hence the name," Xigbar said with a shrug. "But half of them defected a while back. They weren't interested in our goals; they just wanted power. They knew that the side of the Light was already wary of us, so they tried to manipulate a Keyblade wielder into destroying us by using Namine's ability to affect memories. Long story short, the traitors failed, but the result is that no one likes Organization XIII."

"You mean there are other people with a Keyblade besides me?"

"Sure, there are several," Xigbar said blandly. "And we're alright with them as long as they don't come in trying to destroy us. They kill Heartless, after all."

"What if that was what I was doing?" Sora asked, horrified. He didn't think he was the kind of person that barged into other people's worlds and tried to destroy them, but what did he know?

"I doubt it, if you're the Keyblader I think you are," Xigbar said.

"Do you know who I am?" Sora had stopped eating altogether, and Xigbar noticed this. He glanced at the half-empty bowl and then back up at Sora and crossed his arms.

"Er… look. I understand you have a lot of questions and everything, but I'm not sure of what the boss wants you to know. We don't have anything against you, but I don't think we're trying to give everything away to an outsider, you get it?" he shook his head. "Personally, I think you could be a big help to us, but that's for the boss to decide."

"Help? How could I help you?" Sora frowned.

"Pff. I know you can help me right now by finishing that so I can leave," Xigbar pointed at the bowl. "If you want to know more about our plans, you'll have to ask someone higher up like Saïx."

Sora chewed quietly, mulling over things. Really, it was sort of like he'd first thought; they didn't seem to be good or bad. He decided to withhold judgment until he had more information.

By the time he finished eating, he was feeling sleepy again. It came on him in a heavy wave, making him blink and dip his head as he finished the last few bites.

"When am I going to stop feeling so weak?" he murmured, rubbing his eyes.

"When you get more adjusted to this world, I suppose," Xigbar said. "You're stuck until then, since you would probably drop dead after you met your first Heartless out there. And the only way off this world is through a dark path, which you probably wouldn't fare so well in either."

"Wouldn't getting used to the darkness be bad, though?" Sora said sleepily.

"I don't have a heart, so don't ask me, kid. Though I do know that some members of the Light have mastered the powers of darkness, and they're powerful because of it, too. Just don't go off the deep end and try to kill us all, and we should be fine."

Sora giggled, even though it really had not been funny.

"Uh…" Xigbar said, standing and taking Sora's bowl. "Anyway, I'm out. If you want to put some clothes on, you should do it soon, because I sure as hell am not going to it for you when you pass out in about two minutes."

Sora stood up slowly. His balance seemed much better than earlier, at least. "Are you coming back anytime?"

"Someone else will come by eventually to give you food," Xigbar waved a hand carelessly, "Not me, I've done my time. You can play 20 questions with them. In the meantime, hurry up and get better so we can have something to break the damn monotony around here."

Sora was going to answer but suddenly a column of darkness enveloped Xigbar and he was gone. Sora jumped with a small cry and fell backwards on his rear. He stared at the spot where Xigbar had been. A familiar dry, cold smell hung faintly in the air like atmosphere after the rain.

"That was the darkness," he realized out loud and got slowly to his feet. It was a lot like in the forest earlier when he saw Roxas sinking into the darkness.

"Sora, are you alright?"

Sora turned around, startled, but relaxed when he saw Jiminy crawling out from under his pillow. "Oh. Jiminy. I forgot you were there. Well not  _forgot_  forgot, like my memories," he laughed sleepily.

"You should lay down," Jiminy cautioned.

"Hold on, let me get changed and then I will," Sora didn't have the energy to look for clean clothes, so he went into the bathroom and changed into what he was wearing before. He flopped backward onto the bed feeling like he'd run a marathon.

"What do you think about these Organization guys, Jiminy?" Sora murmured, eyes half closed.

"I honestly don't know," Jiminy said, climbing onto Sora's chest so they could see each other's faces. "Wha Xigbar said about half of the Organization turning traitor and trying to take over the others matches what Naminé told me."

"If she doesn't like them, I can understand," Sora said. "After what that other faction put her through. Do you think she's a Nobody, too? Is that why she stays here even though she doesn't really like them?"

"She is, she told me," Jiminy said. "And everything that Xigbar said matches up with she has said, except…"

"'Cept what?"

Jiminy frowned and scratched his head. He didn't personally have any memories of Castle Oblivion, of course, but there was a major detail Xigbar had left out. Naminé had said that  _Sora_  was the one that the traitors had tried to use against the Organization. She also said that their memories from that incident had been lost because they had to give them up in exchange for having their past memories being restored, and that they had both been asleep the past year because of that. She said that the Organization had captured them while they were still sleeping and brought them here in order to do what their former comrades had done.

"Except what, Jiminy?"

Except that they were  _definitely_  not letting Naminé restore Sora's memories like they said she was. Jiminy remembered very clearly her conversation with Demyx where the latter said Sora would never see Kairi or his other friends again. Would it put Sora in danger if he pointed out these inconsistencies between what Xigbar had said and what he, a secret observer, had witnessed?

"They could have been holding back information because you're an outsider, like Xigbar was saying," Jiminy said finally. "We'll need to keep looking to figure out what's going on."

"My thoughts exactly," Sora said, closing his eyes.

Jiminy mopped his forehead with his sleeve. This pretending was getting very stressful. He needed to talk to Naminé, and soon.

* * *

Naminé blinked in the sudden darkness. She'd just been walking along, heading back to Sora’s room, when suddenly a hand grabbed her and pulled her into a dark portal. She was going to cry out but a flame suddenly bloomed in the darkness and she could see a sharp, angular face illuminated by a flame in the palm of his hand.

“Axel,” Naminé said in surprise. They were both standing inside a path of darkness. If any of the others knew, he’d almost certainly get in trouble for it. “What’re you—“

“So, the old man,” Axel interrupted. “They got him to talk. He told us how to control the program, and I told the witch. You knew about that, right?”

Naminé stared at him wide-eyed, fists curled by her sides.

"Why…?" she whispered. "Why would you do that? You put Roxas in danger."

"I was trying to protect him," Axel said, looking down. "I was going to sneak him out myself after he made his way to the real Twilight Town. The only thing I could think of to make him disappear without bringing suspicion on myself was to pin it on Maleficent."

"Did it work?" Naminé looked up at him excitedly.

Axel shook his head. "Something… weird happened."

"What?"

"I opened up a portal and tried to pull him into it, but he resisted somehow," Axel said in a low voice, even though them being overheard was unlikely. "He started talking as if Sora was there, but I couldn't see anyone besides him. He yelled for Sora to get away so he wouldn't get caught in the darkness. And then… I can't explain this… one moment I was holding on to Roxas, and the next someone pulled me away from him. We were in the darkness by then, so I couldn't see anything. But they pried my hand off and pushed me away. I know it wasn't Roxas; I was standing behind him holding his arm, and he had the Keyblade in his other hand. He couldn't have reacted fast enough. A split second later they were both completely gone. I looked around, but Roxas wasn’t in the dark path I made."

"There's no way it could have been Sora," Naminé said. "If that is what you think. Roxas might be able to see him if they had a strong enough connection, but… no one else would be able to see him, and he definitely wouldn't be able to interact with anyone physically when his body is here in this castle."

"Hm…" Axel's poison green eyes glinted in the light of the flame. "I didn't really think so, but I had to make sure. Roxas told me that strange things had ended up in his possession without him knowing how they got there. He mentioned your sketches. Did you send them to him somehow? Do you know of anyone besides the Organization and Maleficent who would be following Roxas around?"

"I didn't send him anything," Naminé said, surprised. "I had intended on passing on my sketches to him, but I was captured before I could do that."

"Did anyone else know you were going to do that?"

"Riku and DiZ I think, but… if it was Riku, don't you think he would have tried to fight you if he caught you pulling Roxas into the darkness? And DiZ… well…"

"No; there  _has_  to be someone else," Axel cursed under his breath.

"What if it was him?" Naminé asked quietly. "There's no guarantee _he_ can't make things happen in other worlds, even if he is imprisoned here."

"It wouldn't hurt to do another round of interrogation to make sure," Axel said grimly.

Naminé blinked; darkness swirled and lifted, and the blank white and grey décor of the castle was around them again.

"Later," Axel said casually, walking away.

"W-wait…"

But Axel didn't wait. He walked into a portal and disappeared.

* * *

#####################################

After changing and returning the spare clothes Hayner had leant him, Roxas started walking back the way he came. He heard from the others that Riku, Simba, and Mickey had last been seen heading for the mansion. They probably would have crossed paths if the timing had been better. If they weren't there anymore, he might be able to use DiZ's computer to contact Hollow Bastion. If neither of those things worked, he'd have to try opening a dark path to take him to Merlin's house or Disney Castle. But even with his newfound skill, Roxas wasn't sure if he was ready to try  _that._

He smiled and put his hand over his coat’s inside pocket. Along with the coat, he had found the note he left himself, and found it more relevant than ever.

' _A Nobody's self is determined by his memories. But no matter what, you can still choose which memories to believe in.'_

Roxas was halfway across Tram Common when he saw them. The tram clambered in front of him slowly and when it passed, he saw Simba leaning on Riku, a large Heartless-looking creature hovering behind them protectively. Mickey was in front looking around very seriously. When he caught sight of Roxas, he gasped and pointed, and the other two looked up at him sharply.

"Hey guys, sorry for the trouble," Roxas said when he reached them.

"Well, that wasn't too hard," Mickey said cheerfully.

Riku looked astonished when Roxas first came up, but now he looked very irritated.

"You asshole! Do you even  _know_  how much trouble it was?" he said. "You're lucky that Maleficent didn't capture you. She was the cause of this whole mess. She's teamed up with Hades to mess with the worlds, and she's after you on top of that."

“Yeah. She said she would be coming for me sometime.” He looked at Simba supporting himself on Riku's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be… fine," Simba said as if in pain. "I'm glad we found you though, because they were talking about taking me back to the ship. We would have missed you if that had happened."

"Cid shut down the Twilight Town simulation and Maleficent showed up," Riku said. "Simba was caught behind and had to face Hades by himself."

"Whoa," Roxas said. "…I'm sorry. Well, I'm here now, so you should get some rest."

"Leon said that some members of the Restoration Committee found another Ansem Report while they were looking around Ansem's old lab. He didn't mention it earlier while we were busy looking for you, but we should go look at what it contains."

Roxas was reminded that he knew the truth about Ansem the Wise's current location. If this—whatever it was—really the path he wanted, he would have to tell them the truth. He didn’t like the possibility of losing what trust he had gained here.

But he couldn't claim to be his own person if he didn't have the strength to make it happen.

"Yeah," Roxas said. "And I need to thank everyone for their help, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious items appearing for Roxas is a reference to how the same thing happened to Sora in KH2 when Riku kept leaving him clues. And that's all the hint you'll be getting from me.


	19. Grandstanding on the Square

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter posted 5/30/13.

_The distant days spent in that beautiful paradise are an illusion to me now._

_How long have I been here, banished to the realm of nothingness?_

_It is only by relying upon my anger and hatred that I have been able to retain my sense of self here, where all existence is nullified._

_My heart is being overcome with hatred toward my apprentices, possessed by the darkness, and with the anger I feel for stupidly allowing myself to be betrayed._

_Is this darkness, eating away at my heart?_

_I cannot continue to idle away my time here._

_What are Xehanort and the others attempting to do?_

_I must unravel the mystery of these Ansem Reports, intercept my apprentices, and defeat them._

_That is my mission…the only way to repay the world for my sins._

_Those beings who lack hearts—the Heartless—must be the key._

_The darkness of the heart, made flesh. Cursed shadows who not only lack hearts, but multiply by seizing hearts from any and all living things._

_Where have they come from, and where are they going?_

_Three elements combine to create life: a heart, a soul, and a body._

_But what of the soul and body left behind when the heart is lost?_

_When the soul leaves the body, its vessel, life gives way to death, but what about when the heart leaves?_

_A being does not perish when its heart leaves its body. The heart alone disappears into the darkness._

_There is little time._

_If I remain in this realm much longer, I will certainly learn these answers the hard way._

_My heart is already a captive of the darkness._

"Man," Riku said softly. "It looks like the chances of finding and getting help from this Ansem the Wise are getting slimmer and slimmer."

Everyone was quiet and pensive. Only part of the Restoration Committee was gathered there in Mickey's room at the Hollow Bastion Inn; everyone else was off at the restoration site. Aside from Mickey, Riku, Roxas, and Simba– who had by now ended up subconsciously grouping themselves together as a team unit– Leon and Yuffie were there to share the discoveries that they had already made.

"It seems like he was theorizing about the possibility of Nobodies, even back then," Leon said. "I wonder if he did eventually become a Heartless. That would explain why he didn't come back when Hollow Bastion was restored. But so far, we haven't seen anyone that resembles him in Organization XIII, so there is still a chance that he was able to make it out of the darkness."

"The Ansem I remember was definitely strong enough to do that. If anyone could sink that far into darkness and still make it out, he could," Mickey said. "But the connection he has with the Organization is becoming clearer."

He turned to Roxas, who stiffened unexpectedly. He looked warily at Mickey as if afraid of what he might say to him.

"Roxas, you remembered that the Organization's leader is named Xemnas and we already established that he must be the Nobody of Ansem's imposter, and that the imposter and Ansem must have been deeply acquainted."

Roxas nodded wordlessly.

"Well, I believe now that this Xehanort mentioned in the report here," Mickey held it up, "was the imposter and that he and his band of ex-apprentices became the nucleus of Organization XIII."

There was a contemplative pause all around, and then Riku nodded. "It would explain a lot. If Xemnas is the imposter's Nobody, and the imposter was Ansem's apprentice, it follows that the other apprentices would have become Nobodies too. That is,  _if_  the imposter was really Ansem's apprentice like you're saying."

"The reports do not say that outright," Mickey admitted, shuffling the papers in his hand. "Report two, the first of the real Ansem's reports that we found, only says that the imposter was the first subject in Ansem's experiments. He could have possibly been a bystander who ended up simply wanting revenge on Ansem for experimenting on him. But I remembered somethin'," he looked up at everyone. "I met his apprentice Xehanort. It was a really short moment, but he came in one time when Ansem and I were talking together in his study. It's been bothering me this whole time that the imposter Ansem's Heartless and Nobody looked sorta familiar to me. Now I know why. They look just like Xehanort."

Yuffie raised her hand. "Um, so… long story short… Xehanort and the other apprentices did some crazy experiments without Ansem's permission and turned into Heartless and Nobodies and now they're Organization XIII? And we still don't know what happened to Ansem?"

"That seems about the size of it," Leon said. "Only they expanded beyond the original six that Report Two mentions to include more Nobodies."

"If he's vowed to defeat them…" Riku said slowly, "that could explain why he hasn't returned to Hollow Bastion, if he is still alive and managed to escape the darkness."

"Alive doesn't mean well," Leon said grimly. "Like King Mickey said before at our meeting in Disney Castle, there was a time when Ansem valued his home world over everything else. But from this report it seems he was growing more interested in his so-called 'atonement'– which sounds a lot like revenge."

 _Revenge._  The word pinged something in Riku's memory. It nagged at him, but he pushed it back for a later time.

"How far have you made it into the castle?" he said instead. "Have there been any other leads?"

"We'll keep looking around there," Leon said. "This is the second report we've found in those ruins and it only makes sense to search where the man lived and did most of his work."

"You all can take a break from that tomorrow," Mickey said with a large grin. "It's high time we go look around there ourselves. You have the reconstruction to get back to as well."

"We've started building Leon a house," Yuffie snickered mischievously. "And he refuses to say what he wants so we're having fun with the construction."

Leon shot her a glare but there was no mistaking the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth that could have been an amused smile.

There was a knock on the door and Aerith came in.

"Hello," she chirped, "A lot of the construction workers stayed late tonight so we decided to pull together a big pot luck dinner for everyone outside. All of you are invited too. You'll get to see the newly constructed square!"

"It's finished?" Leon even shifted from his 'cool guy' position leaning on the wall in surprise.

"They were determined," Aerith said happily. "Come on, then! No one let Cid cook anything so you don't have to worry, Riku," she added.

"Good," Riku grunted while Yuffie laughed openly at him.

Moths drifted lazy around the cheery round party lights that were strung up all around the square. It was vaguely reminiscent of the square in Traverse Town; with as-of-yet-unopened shops and restaurants lining it and trees neatly planted with cobblestones covering the whole thing. Yet it had a distinctively Hollow Bastion feel, too. The cobbles and walls around were gray, and a graceful fountain dominated the center of the square, glinting with clean water. The lights were strung from lanterns to trees to poles, giving the whole thing a festive air. Tables were set out and the square was full of Restoration Committee members and their families, eating, chatting, sitting down or drifting from circle to circle.

Everyone 'oohed' and 'aahed' when they saw it. Leon stood looking for a moment before a genuine smile broke out on his face and he walked forward into the crowd, his posture unburdened like someone coming home for the first time in years. People greeted him as he approached and clapped his shoulder and talked. Yuffie went bounding in too with Aerith walking behind.

Riku was smiling too. He was glad that he had made it through enough to see this. His face was uncovered and he felt a little bit nervous, but it wasn't long before he went in too, with Mickey following. Roxas watched him with his arms crossed and a knowing sideways smile; but he glanced beside and saw Simba watching the scene with an unreadable flatness to his eyes.

Roxas uncrossed his arms and laid a hand on Simba's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Simba looked at Roxas' hand and then slowly at his face. The tawny-red eyes, permanently lined, glinted with something that stirred in Roxas' memory; but he wasn't sure what.

"I'm fine," he said quietly.

"Well…" Roxas said falteringly– he really wasn't good at this– "if you ever want to talk, just know you can talk to me. I'm not really used to giving comfort or advice but I can at least listen," He rubbed the back of his head. "I can understand if… if you think we ought to be going after Maleficent instead of wasting our time on Ansem the Wise."

Simba blinked at him, surprised.

"Don't worry," Roxas added. He frowned thoughtfully to himself. "I think after tomorrow everyone else will be giving up on finding him, too."

He nodded once at Simba and walked into the square. Simba stared after him.

He wished the blond hadn't said anything. Roxas didn't realize that the  _least_  helpful thing he could do was to be nice to him.

"So, Roxas, tell us about your escapades in Twilight Town," Yuffie said, sounding gleeful for some reason (it must have been the pile of food in front of her she was eyeing appreciatively). A large group of them were sitting at one of the tables. Yuffie was across the table from him and Riku and Mickey were on his left, Leon on his right. Roxas noticed that he hadn't seen Simba since coming in but he avoided calling attention to it.

Roxas shrugged. "I think you all have a better sense of it than I do. Riku says that someone told Maleficent how to run DiZ's system and use it to capture me. I never saw her. She did send some Heartless after me though."

Yuffie swallowed the huge bite of fried chicken she had just torn off. "Why does she wanna come after you? I mean, I get the whole world-destroying thing… that's always been her favorite hobby… but why come after you too?"

"It's not me," Roxas said grumpily, but with no real vehemence. "She knows I'm Sora's Nobody so she wants to either use me to get to Sora, or to stick it to the Organization, or both."

"Wish Maleficent and the Organization would just take each other out." Riku said. "Problem solved."

"What has the Organization even done?" Roxas wondered aloud. "I mean, aside from kidnapping Sora, obviously. Does no one know what their goal actually is?"

"You're asking us,  _XIII?_ " Riku answered dubiously.

"If you don't realize by now that I've lost my memory, then I don't know what to tell you," Roxas said.

"He's got you there, Riku," Leon quirked a smile.

"Who knew Nobodies could make jokes?" Yuffie laughed.

"Yeah, but they aren't very good at them," Riku said.

"I like you," Yuffie decided, pointing at Roxas, who blinked. "Since you don't really have a home anymore, as far as I'm concerned, you're a citizen of Hollow Bastion. You have the card after all," she said as if that explained everything.

"Well, you were born here," Riku put in. "Sort of. At least, you were caused to be born here. I was there. Sort of."

Yuffie wrinkled her nose. "Ew. Can we not talk about morbid things?"

Everyone else was stunned momentarily that Riku had actually referenced  _that._ A month ago,  _that_  probably still plagued his nightmares, and now he was casually mentioning it in Hollow Bastion and in the presence of Roxas. Times had really changed.

"So Roxas," Riku turned to him conversationally, taking the awkwardness in stride. "Are you really able to use the dark paths now?"

"Pretty much," Roxas said, bumping a fist on his chest. "Except… I can't always get them to form on the ground in my destination so I end up falling from the air."

"Probably you need to focus on your destination more; visualize it when you're about to step out," Riku said. "How did you do it? Since you can't do it by reaching out to the darkness with the darkness in your heart like we do."

Roxas tilted his head, thinking deeply.

"Well…" he said slowly. "I sensed the darkness, like you said. The first time, when I went from the ship to the fake Twilight Town, it was like I found it and then ripped into it whether it wanted me or not. That time, the darkness was chaotic like all the times you guys have pulled me through it. But when I was in Twilight Town and Maleficent almost captured me…" he glanced down at the table, trying to remember clearly. "Someone pulled me into the darkness, and it was… different."

"Someone did? Maleficent?" Mickey said, jumping into the conversation for the first time.

Roxas shook his head. "I highly doubt it. I was sinking into a pool of darkness that I know had to be her work. It was just as wild and destructive as what had been hanging over the simulated Twilight Town. But when they grabbed me, whoever it was pulled me into a very calm darkness that I had never seen before. It was more pure, or something; I don't know. But I didn't have to struggle with it. I just focused my mind back to Twilight Town and went there easily after taking a step. I tried to get back in there and use it a couple of times afterward before I met up with you guys. I can get in there by sort of…  _asking_  it. Willing it. With my mind," he added. "Riku guessed it might be similar to how I use the Keyblade and that's what I came up with after thinking about it. It's the same."

"Of course," Riku breathed, and Mickey said, "But you don't know who it was that took you to the calm darkness?"

"It would have had to have been a Nobody, don't you think?" Leon said. "That is, assuming you really were in a space only Nobodies can reach."

"I…" Roxas stammered and held up his hands defensively because everyone was staring at him. "I really don't know who it was!" he dropped his hands. "I thought at first it might be Axel because he's followed me and the past, and… he tried to break me out of Twilight Town the first time." He cast his eyes down. "To be honest, weird things like that have been happening to me all along. This is just the most recent."

"What weird things?" Riku said warily.

Roxas did not like the tilt the conversation was going in. He wasn't prepared on the fly like this.

"Well– well– you know, with my memories being scrambled up and all, I haven't always been entirely sure what is real and what isn't, and what is just my imagination and who I can trust, and all of that," he rambled.

"Roxas?" Mickey said in concern. He was surprised that the boy was getting so flustered and that made him curious as to what he was dancing around. "I told you when we first met that it was understandable if you didn't trust us. Are you saying that someone has been making contact with you like this before now?"

Roxas nodded. "But… I'm still not saying it wasn't my imagination or some kind of trick or the Organization making Naminé mess with my mind. The first time it happened, I was still being kept in the simulation by DiZ and I didn't know much of anything. A sketchbook of Naminé's appeared on my desk while I was sleeping. Then, after the meeting where you gave me the old Ansem reports, an extra page ended up in there that I hadn't seen before. Running through Disney Castle searching for guardsmen, I felt like I was being watched. And  _then_ , when you brought me here, I was so tired from the fight at Disney Castle that I didn't feel like going to my room on the ship to fetch my bag, but suddenly I realized it was next to my seat and I didn't know how it got there. I've never seen anything, or heard anything, or felt anything up until now to explain it. But I definitely felt someone pulling me this time. Whether my senses are mistaken or not, that's what I felt."

 _Tell them about Sora,_  he urged himself, but the mere thought made his throat close. It wasn't like Sora had anything to do with what they were talking about now. He knew Sora could not have done those things.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the Organization was watching you," Riku said after everyone was quiet for what felt like a long time. "But I don't understand how they could be sneaking around without anyone else noticing."

"Cid can upgrade the security grid here to be able to detect them, now that he has DiZ's software," Leon said. "We should at least be able to keep them out of here by adding them to the attack parameters along with the Heartless. At the very least, if it doesn't do much to hurt them, it'll keep them from hiding."

"Good idea, Leon," Mickey said. "We'll also implement the system at Disney Castle, since the Cornerstone of Light probably does not react to Nobodies."

"All of that is good and everything, but…" Roxas started, "I'm telling you, I don't know if these incidents are even real happenings or not."

"We should guard as much as possible against the Organization anyway," Riku shrugged.

"I'm sorry for hiding things from you all," Roxas cast his eyes down. "To be honest… I still haven't told you about everything. But I hope you can believe when I say I really do not want anything bad to happen to this group. And also," he turned to look Mickey in the eye, "No matter what they try or what they say or what memories come back to me, I won't betray you to the Organization. Whoever I was in the past, I still chose to leave them of my own accord. That was my will in the past; it still means something to me."

"Have you had any new memories recently?" Mickey asked, supposing that that is what Roxas was still hiding.

"No," Roxas said, surprised at the realization. "Actually… I haven't remembered anything new in a while. It was almost a constant before." He frowned. What changed? "I haven't had a flashback since…"

 _Since Sora woke up,_  he realized.

"Since I got trapped in the Twilight Town simulation again," he said.

"That was only a few days ago," Mickey said. "But I think they were bound to slow down after a while."

Riku stood up suddenly, making everyone turn their gaze to him.

"Look, stop worrying," he said. "None of us here got off on exactly the right foot. Even His Majesty felt guilty for accepting DiZ's plan without bothering to meet you, after we found ourselves stuck with you."

"It's true," Mickey said sheepishly.

"Anyway, how about we have a little match?" Riku asked Roxas. "It'll take your mind off things."

"Riku!" Yuffie slammed her hand down on the table while Roxas was caught off guard. "If you mean to mess up the new square we  _just finished…_ "

"I didn't mean fighting. Not right this moment, anyway," Riku said with a rather sinister smile. "You're familiar with that game, right?" he pointed toward a corner where some kids were gathered. They had soft foam bats similar to the ones Twilight Town used in their Struggle tournaments. They were hitting light rubber balls into the air with the bats and trying to keep them up in the air for as long as possible.

"There would be no point fighting with you if you couldn't keep up with me in that," he said. "Either way, we should start training. I just want to see where you stand since I haven't actually seen you fight much."

"I used… to hate that game…"

* * *

It stirred up a little bit of attention when one muscle-ridden grown man and two teenagers (Yuffie had joined them) stepped into the game circle and started playing alongside the kids. Their version was slightly more extreme, though. Riku could hit the ball so high that it disappeared in the backdrop of the night sky, and could jump much higher than any normal person to meet it as it fell, so that it seemed the ball wasn't in danger of dropping below the height of the lamp posts, much less hitting the ground. Yuffie moved so fast that she would be on the ground, seem to flicker and disappear, then reappear where the ball was before batting it with a shout.

Roxas wasn't as fast as Yuffie or as powerful as Riku, but he was satisfied to see that he had improved from his Twilight Town days. He, too, could jump higher and hit harder than any of the ordinary citizens would have been able to. His aim and stamina had improved too, and he kept going even after Yuffie stopped, huffing for breath.

The children had cleared out and a lazy circle of curious onlookers had gathered, rooting Roxas and Riku on as they leapt, dived, and sprinted.

"Not bad, Roxas!" Riku shouted from somewhere above him as Roxas frantically hit the ball that had reached dangerously close to the ground. Riku landed and said, "Be careful not to hit it too far the side so you don't have to run so much."

"I know, I'm just getting tired," Roxas griped, following the ball rather than looking at Riku. He aimed the next strike straight up and it went well, though not as high as when he first started. Accuracy was more important than power, though. He moved the bat to his left hand to give his burning right arm a break. He had to admit, this wasn't a bad training exercise for stamina and accuracy, even though he was starting to get a crick in his neck from looking up so much.

"They've been at it for 45 minutes without stopping now," Aerith commented from outside the circle.

"I'm wiped," Yuffie said beside her, drinking a bottle of water. "I should have paced myself more, then I could have went on for longer. It was fun though! I'd love to see Cloud do this."

"Me too, but I can't see that happening," Aerith laughed. "Maybe if they goaded him into it enough."

"Maybe you too next time, Leon?" Yuffie said, tilting her head toward Leon, who was standing beside them.

"Hmph," was all he said.

"Hey you guys!" Aerith called, cupping her mouth with her hands. "Don't you think it's time to give the kids their game back? It's getting late!"

Roxas landed and fell back on his behind, panting. He flopped back and let the bat fall out of his hand. Riku landed and remained standing but he looked rather slouched and was breathing heavily.

"I think you would have won," Roxas said, "but I  _did_  keep up, like you said."

"I should hope so," Riku walked up to him and pulled him up. "It would just be embarrassing for me if you couldn't, since you've beaten me in a real fight before."

"The realest of fights," Roxas agreed as they walked over and accepted the water Leon gave them.

"We've got a bit of a training hall here if you guys want to use it sometime," Leon said. "It's really basic right now but eventually we'll have holograms and battle simulations and things like that."

"Awesome," Roxas said.

"We should make sure you can use the dark paths right each time before everything else, I suppose," Riku said. "Then try to recover all the skills you lost."

Roxas nodded. "I can use Fire magic now, at least I think. I only tried it once, in Twilight Town when I was escaping Maleficent's Heartless hoard. I think if I work at it, I can get back everything I lost."

"You started using the bat with your left hand," Riku pointed at Roxas' left side. "So you are just naturally ambidextrous? Or is it just with wielding weapons?"

"I didn't really think about it," Roxas said thoughtfully, looking at his left palm as he flexed his hand. "I just did it. I can't do everything with my left hand."

"You need to get your dual-wielding back," Riku said. "It's a huge part of your style. If it's starting to feel natural to use either hand, it could be a sign. We can train with bamboo swords in the training hall and try it out."

Roxas nodded determinedly with a cocky sideways smile.

"Hey fellas, are you coming back to the inn now? If so we can go together," Mickey came up to them. "I think they're about to wrap this up. Has anybody seen Simba? I thought he came here but I haven't seen him since the start."

"He's probably already back there," Roxas said. "I think he was still worn out from Twilight Town."

"Oh," Mickey said worriedly. "He should have said something."

"If he wants space, we should give it to him," Riku said. "He's still conflicted about the disappearance of his world. Most of us know that feeling."

Roxas and the Hollow Bastion gang all agreed.

"He probably could use a task to feel like he's doing something to help his world," Aerith said. "Feeling helpless about something you can't control is terrible. We should definitely include him whenever we get together to figure out what to do about Maleficent."

"He's next door to me," Roxas said. "I'll check up on him when we get back."

* * *

Roxas apprehensively knocked on Simba's door. He heard a very distant 'come in' before going in.

The room was unlit, but not entirely dark because the patio door was open and the moon was shining brightly down onto the small porch. The door's wispy white curtain floated in and out of the door lazily in the night wind. Simba was sitting on a chair with his back to the door. He was leaning forward slightly and sitting with both of his bare feet in the chair in a crouched cat-like position.

Roxas walked through the dark room carefully and sat down in the empty chair beside him on the porch.

"Why are all your lights off?" he asked. "Did you try to go to sleep?"

"I've just been sitting here outside looking at the stars," Simba said. "Besides, I can see fine in the dark."

"They missed you at the dinner thing."

"Oh. I hope they didn't think I was trying to avoid them," Simba looked at Roxas. "I'm happy for them, really. I remember what this world used to look like before the worlds were restored. It was just like the name. Hollow. I just didn't feel like I had enough energy to join in and look happy on the outside."

"What happened at Twilight Town?" Roxas said hesitantly. "Riku and Mickey said you got separated from them and attacked by Hades. I mean, that is pretty serious."

For some reason, Simba glanced from Roxas into the room and then back again. "It wasn't a physical attack. Hades likes to toy with his victims. He thought it would be a good time to tell me they were the ones making the worlds disappear. And that it was my fault that my world disappeared."

"What!" Roxas said scornfully. "Come on, you can't believe that one, right? If they are the ones that did it, it's  _their_  fault."

Simba's mouth tightened into a hard line. They stared at each other for a bit and Roxas was starting to realize– with incredulity– that he had hit the nail on the head. Simba  _did_  believe it. It wasn't just simple survivor's guilt. For whatever reason, he  _really_ , legitimately believed that it was his fault.

"I can't explain it," Simba said finally. "Hades is very persuasive. But…" here he lowered his voice so low that Roxas barely caught the words even though he was right next to him, "I'm not so beaten that I won't keep trying to think of how I can escape from this mess."

He winced suddenly and put his hand over his face with a small cry. His shoulders shook as if with a great internal struggle.

Thinking that he had suddenly been overcome with emotion (how was a Nobody to say?) Roxas jumped up and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Look, we aren't going to abandon you in this. So if you want to fix it… though I still think you blame yourself too much… you won't be alone."

"Sorry, I'm really tired now," Simba pushed Roxas' hand away and stood up, motioning at the door. "I'm going ahead to bed, so I'll see you tomorrow, Roxas."

"Oh… ok," Roxas said awkwardly. "Well… I'll see you, then."

He glanced back before he went into the hall to see Simba shutting the patio door quietly. He spotted the small ornate mirror laying on the vanity, but did not think much of it.

* * *

When Naminé returned, she found that Sora was already fast asleep again. But Jiminy came out and pleaded that he needed to talk to her right away before ushering her to the bathroom.

She had assured him that Sora would still be sleeping more deeply than usual for a while, and he had been a formidable sleeper to begin with. Nevertheless, Jiminy had insisted on leaving the room.

"Did something happen while I was gone, Jiminy?" she said, concerned, because he seemed very agitated.

"Nothing particularly.” He shook his head. "I just," he cleared his throat, "I just wanted to ask. How sure are you that your plan to keep Sora's memories safe will work? Are you really sure? Really really  _really_  sure?"

"I am very sure," Naminé said, holding him in her palms at eye level. "I am leaving the chain completely intact except for the very last link. Everything should follow if that one link is restored."

"Okay, that does seem pretty solid," Jiminy admitted. "But still… why do we two have to lie to Sora?"

"What happened, Jiminy?" Naminé asked again, brow furrowed.

Jiminy sighed and sat down on her hands. "Well… nothing really bad. That guy named Xigbar talked to Sora, and he explained what Nobodies were, and about the Castle Oblivion incident you told me about. But that’s partly what worries me. Even I couldn't tell when he was lying and when he wasn't, and I've heard your version of the story. I mean, I know something isn't right about these guys. They kidnapped Sora and you, and they refuse to let you restore his memory. But those are exactly the things we can't tell Sora about. I’m not saying I don’t believe in you. I just can't stomach going along with their story to Sora's face when he asks me. It goes against everything I stand for.“

"I'm really sorry," Naminé said miserably. “But if he knew, there’s nothing we could do to convince him to go along with it. He would try to fight, and he is too weak right now. And we are too weak to help him. If he tried to fight or escape and failed, the Organization would make me cover up his real memories with fake ones like the rebels did. If that happens, his memory could be damaged, and it would take much longer to fix even if we saved him in the end. So you see, no matter how much it hurts, we have to lie to him. There is no amount of damage they can do now that would not be at least less than it  _could_  be. That is why," Naminé tilted her head, trying to catch Jiminy's eye. "You do understand that, right, Jiminy? It is extremely important."

“Alright,” Jiminy said with great difficulty, "So then, why did you decide to make Kairi the last link in the chain? I agree it makes a very strong one, but if he has to see her in order to pull it off… how can you guarantee that he will see her? You would have to be sure the Organization would send him to their island. That is not certain at all, is it? Wouldn't it be better to pick someone that he is more likely to see in other worlds, like King Mickey or Riku?"

"I did think about that," Naminé said. "Unfortunately, Riku won't work. It is based on recognizing someone by sight, and Riku no longer looks like his old self. And he currently looks too much like Xemnas for me to use him as he currently is. As for Mickey," she tilted her head curiously, "I didn’t think of him. Sora only has one memory of him, and I don’t know where he is now. Riku would never tell me."

"Well then… one of Sora's Hollow Bastion friends?" Jiminy suggested slowly, thinking hard.

"Hmm…" Naminé deposited Jiminy on the edge of the tub and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I can only choose one. I don’t know if any of them would have the force needed to jar his memory.“

“I just… I know it's for the best, but I still don't know whether I can keep this up for long. The last thing I want to do is cause him harm because of that. When it comes to doing what’s necessary, you're definitely stronger than me, Naminé."

"I disagree," Naminé smiled gently. "Nobodies can be considered strong, in that they are able to consider all the options and take the best one without a conscience pulling them in irrational directions. But if their goal is misguided, they have nothing there to save them from themselves. What you're saying is the right thing, Jiminy. It's just that doing the right thing does not always do more good than harm."

“I think, maybe…” Jiminy said, "If only I could get out and reach the others, I could tell them what has been happening. And I could tell them our plan, so we’d have a better chance of making it work. I feel like I could be much more helpful that way, even though I am terrified of leaving Sora behind here. I would never forgive myself if I slipped up and caused something terrible to happen to him.”

Naminé spent a couple of quick seconds thinking over the possibility. "That is actually a really great idea! If we could think of a way to make it happen, that is. You have a better chance of escaping than anyone. If you could hide in someone's coat, you would be protected from the darkness… but we'd have to figure out how to do it, and how to get you somewhere you wanted to go…"

“We will think of a way,” Jiminy said firmly. “I don’t care if it’s dangerous. I’d rather face danger than lie.”


End file.
